To-Love-CARNAGE
by Mister Law Horror
Summary: Sometimes all you need is some TLC - Tender Lovin' Carnage!. This 2nd instalment to the To-love-DEATH Cycle follows Rito and friends through the wastelands of apocalyptic Japan. Children forced to be soldiers, they rally together to find their families. Meanwhile, a Million Zombie Horde sets their sights on Saipan, now the town's citizens must make a final stand to save their home!
1. CH 00: Prologue

**A/N: Greetings Gorehounds! This is the sequel to the 2014 FanFic To-Love-Death. If you prefer a story with tons of action without context then read ahead fellow literati, but if you are wondering as to how and why the weak humans Rito and Yui are now zombie kicking badasses, and princess Lala, Nana and all their other friends are dead, please, read To-Love-Death. Oops, did I just spoil the first instalment? My bad, want more context? Then read part one!**

 **Prologue: Our Darkest Day**

This is the way the world ends.

This is the way the world ends.

Not with a bang, but with a Garfield Comic.

I was reading a Garfield comic the day the world ended. Forgive the cliché, but the day started out just like any other. I met up with my friends, who at that time I merely took for granted. Lala Deviluke – the alien princess escapee who sought refuge with her sisters in my home – was being irritating as usual. Mio and Risa, the class couple were excited for their school trip.

We all had plans for our future. But they only turned out to be delusions of grandeur. Yet, looking back on it now, I spent more time worrying about them than I did on myself. I never really even had any dreams. I always worried the alien sisters, for my own sister or the alien-plant-human-girl we care for. We call her "Celine" and she calls me "Papa".

When all our governments fell from the zombie threat, I found a new sense of freedom in the world's darkest era.

In this freedom, I found out something I never realised I lost. Myself. As the pillars that constructed our society cracked and burned, I spent more time to reflect on myself. For the short time I alone, not talking to the other survivors, I found new sides to myself.

However, even though such ideals of freedom are romanticised, I can't go without saying that the world I live in, is marvellous yet horrific.

The man who killed my friends, who destroyed this earth within only a few weeks, was an alien warlord from the far reaches of the universe. He called himself Gruello. I knew nothing about him, what he was or why he did what he did, all I can do is speculate. He came to make Lala his bride. But this man wasn't like the weak villains my friends or I had fought in the past. No, he wanted a submissive bride, a zombie bride. He infected her. Murdered her. He slashed my chest and left a massive scar right across my whole torso.

As students and teachers came to aid Lala, she infected them. But it wasn't her, not anymore. It was the virus that took her over. It made a lovely girl a monster. So those innocent people died, and my friends died. Only I and a handful of other escaped the school that day.

A few weeks have passed now, my friends, that is; Momo, Yami, Yui, Miss Tearju and Nurse Mikado, escaped in a helicopter. The army sent us to Fort Saipan. We were safe, and dealt with the shock and grief. Yet, that passed, and sadness turned into rage. We enlisted in the army's 'Civilian Heroes' Brigade. They taught us how to drive, survive in the wild and use weapons properly for our own protection. Though that may seem ridiculous for us to go through all that basic training in such a small timeframe, the army made it work. We went through intense and long days of training. We lived in the barracks and ate with the soldiers. Of course many volunteers dropped out, this training was to pick off the weak and let the strong thrive. Out of my friends, it was only Yui and I that made it through, maybe it was something about the survivor's guilt that fuelled my longing to fight back, rescue and help survivors and take back my goddamn planet. One of my teachers, Miss Lunatique Tearju, became a recon agent. She was in charge of scoping out the areas before we would enter to make sure it was safe.

Her daughter, Yami, though an alien assassin, didn't want to join us. It was something to do with her weird moral code. Strange enough an assassin would have any kind of morals but whatever.

In the past weeks, I haven't had any word of my family, I fear they're gone. My sister and my dad lived in Saipan, they're defintly dead. I'm sure of it. My mum travelled around the world, at the time of the incident, she was living in Paris and I yet been able to contact her, even with fully functional Wi-Fi and phone lines. Celine, the alien baby was meant to be at home with her babysitter. I know there was some non-perishable cans of food in the basement and the city's water supply hasn't been dried up yet. Hopefully that would leave them both safe.

I had amazing dreams where I would arrive home and Mikan and Celine would be okay. Yet, when I awoke, the nightmarish realisation that they could be both possibly dead runs up my spine like a cold chill.

And died painfully.

That's what really scares me. This is why I joined the Civilian Volunteer Brigade, to save my family. I need to reach my house. The house is still intact. I know this from climbing tall buildings and finding it with binoculars. My house is still intact and reachable. It hasn't been destroyed like most of the city.

There are two things getting in the way of my house and myself. The zombies litter the streets below. They slowly and aimlessly wander through the streets looking for food. The majority's in the city, but there's still plenty in the suburbs. The second thing is the school. Ever since Gruello made his mark, which was creepy giant vines that wrapped around the school and flow into the streets. They're covered in giant thorns and will attack any living thing that comes to close. Whether Gruello is still there or not, I'm not sure. But living close enough to the school makes the trip back home that bit more perilous.

Needless to say, this world is changed and so am I. Before, I was fleeing, now I survive.

 _Wanna see more cool stuff like original stories, additional fan fic artwork and extras? check out my tumblr! (only writing and 90's/vaporwavey stuff, nuthin' politcal, honest!) .com_


	2. CH 01: Zero Dark Thirty

**Chapter One: Zero Dark Thirty**

 **A/N: I hope everyone had a 2spooky420me Halloween!**

The golden evening sun was setting over the corpse ridden mountains in the city of my final destination. In them middle of a desolate intersection, I sat lopsided on my motorbike, scribbling some thoughts into my journal. To cope with my new found stress, I sought solace by letting out my hatred through penned out monologues in my journal:

 _You kill and you kill. A bloody rollercoaster of emotion. At first, you were fighting to protect the human race, then it was your friends, your country, but now it's only yourself. But it's not the dreaded hordes you must worry about, no, it's your sanity. The scales of your brain that balance your sanity. And with each kill, each necessary but regretful murder, these scales slowly fall imbalanced. Then you notice things, the way that anarchy turns kind men cruel. Some call it "Freedom". You see it in yourself, you start to kill for fun. But then you kill just because it's part of your new basic human instinct. The basic human function. It's a war within all of us. This is my future._

\- _Rito Yuuki of Saipan, Japan._

"Yuuki" A woman dressed in black walks towards me, "What you doing? Didn't you hear that?"

"Hear what?" I say, adjusting my helmet. We were in makeshift armour, built from a mixture of American Football chest plates, black boots and cricket helmets. All painted black, so zombies and raiders couldn't see us at night.

"Miss Tearju was yammering on about a horde up north-east. Someone's in trouble…or whatever" Yui replies teeming with indifference.

 _Whatever_ she says _._ The hopelessness of this new reality has taken a toll on her. It's really changed everyone. Some are frequent to violent verbal outbursts, some gave up and some went insane. Yui and I were the lucky ones. It's almost been a month since the massacre. Some people try to label what happened a "Tragedy", but I won't accept that. The simple fact is that my friends were murdered and converted into ungodly abominations. Over the course of the month, I've seen so many people more die. New found friends, enemies, innocent civilians and the people who tried to protect us. Even worse, most of the time, its up to either Yui or myself to take them out of their misery. We're slowly becoming more passive. We've become desensitised. I remember freaking out about ending someone, zombie or not. Now I don't know if I could care if anyone lives or dies. I'm not sure at all.

"Oh sure, lets roll" I quickly sign the date of my journal and chuck it in my backpack.

"What are you writing about?" She asks, trying check over my journal before I snap it shut.

"Nothing much…"

"I bet it was something completely shameless as usual!" she states

I take delight in her embarrassment, "as _usual?_ "

"Yeah!"

"Name something 'shameless' I've done recently?"

"…uh…the-the Hot Springs!"

"The…hot springs?"

"Yeah…you tried to perve on me there!"

"Yui, the fuck are you talking about? Yui have you been writing that creepy fan fiction again? "

"N-No! I mean, I don't write that-!"

"I don't think I want to know what happened at the 'Hot Springs', Yui" I say whilst flipping my legs over my motorbike into the driving position, "besides, I've think I've seen enough after I found that Highschool DxD Future Fan Fiction, seriously Yui. International Demonic Terrorists? How ridiculous!"

"Hey! …At least I thought it was good" she pouts

"Yui… you made so Issei didn't even have a harem in that fic. Only a madman would write something so horrible. Well, at least the fight scenes were fun I guess"

"Rito! This is why no one likes you! You're too shit of a character! If it isn't the fact you keep on tripping over into lewd positions all the time, it's the fact you're too cowardly to even laid for once!"

"Uhh…Yui. You're talking to me here. Maybe you're getting your _adaptions_ mixed up"

"…Right! S-sorry, I kinda went a bit too _meta_ there."

"Wait, that raises a question, if I'm…not the…same Rito…uhh…which Yui are you? Are you real…or…fan fiction"

"Uhh…Yes."

I try to break the awkward silence between us. "There's people in trouble! Let's go!"

"Righty-o!"

You know what, _fuck_ breaking the awkwardness between us. Let's make it _more_ awkward.

"Hey Yui?"

"Yeah?"

"The hot springs fan fiction?"

"uhhh"

"Lets make it cannon" I raise my eyebrows

Her face flares up, "You s-s-shameless…shameless! You're an OC! No, you're worse than an OC! You're a goddamn Mary Sue! A furry Mary Sue! No! A goddamn My Little Pony Mary Sue! And your cosplay is shit!"

I let out a hearty laugh and rev up my bike.

"You don't want to say that Yui, maybe _god_ might even write you out of the story!"

Theres an unexpected gleam in her eye, "Oh, trust me Rito" she drives up right next to me and stares me in the eye. I feel less like looking at a person than I am staring down the barrel of a gun.

"I'm _god's_ favourite waifu, he'd never put me on a bus. You though? I'm not too sure"

She rides off laughing. I've never been so suddenly terrified of one woman.

Oh no. Maybe _she's_ the Mary Sue?

The zombie horde drew closer to the two children. Little Emi and her brother Toshi sprinted for their lives down the empty streets. As the sun was setting, and suburb's main electricity sources were cut off, the kids knew they would have to evade the monsters in the pitch black night. The hot summer humidity was strong and brought out the disgusting smell of rot from the undead. This heat made the zombies more limber, more versatile and quicker.

After a while, it was understood that these creatures had different levels of intelligence and capabilities. Even though alien races were affected too, there was no differentiation in their skills as undead. The level of their abilities came at random. The majority were simple slow moving monsters, dragging most of the weight of their body on one leg or maybe its arms. They reminded me of the classic slow night stalkers you'd see in Night of the Living Dead. Other, more intelligent zombies were more reminiscent of the Evil Dead zombies, or Dead Alive. Some could run and jump like super powered demons, others could speak clearly.

These talking zombies mainly rambled unintelligibly. But from what I had seen so far, some made complete sentences and were capable of conversations (although, having a conversation with a flesh-thirsty zombie is something I've never really had in mind). All they did was mock you and say they would kill you. It seemed cruel in a strange way. The only thing these zombies, once people, could say is somewhat clever quips about eating other people.

There were many different names for all of these zombies. "Walkers", "Jumpers", "Roid-Ragers" (or as I called them, the MLB All-Stars) 'talking zombies' or as some people called 'walkie-talkies' or as I knew them, 'Zombies that wouldn't shut the hell up'.

Thankfully for the two children, there were no signs of any high levelled zombies around. Of course, any zombie is a high enough threat to you when they can kill you with a single bite.

"Someone help!" Toshi screamed

Toshi held his sister's hand as they ran as far as their little legs would take them. Luckily for them, the zombie horde was slowed down by their numbers squished together in the smaller streets.

The two stopped for a moment, they noticed a flashlight beam from a nearby house before quickly shutting off.

"Over there!" said Toshi, pointing towards the house.

They ran through the broken steel gate and up to the wooden house's door.

"Please, let us in!" Emi yelled

No response. Was it just a figment of the imagination? The zombies couldn't be seen through the darkness, but judging by their moans growing ever so more loudly, they were getting close.

"-But they're just children!" a tiny voice whispered out of house.

This voice was quietly shushed by many more voices.

"Please! Anyone! Help us" Emi cried

"Hey! We can hear you! Open the door, right now!" Toshi commanded

"Leave…now. You're gonna attract those…fiends" a new voice pipes from behind the door.

"So let us in! Please there coming! They're going to kill us!"

The door lock unhatched. They were going to open the door. The door creaked open just a tiny bit.

"…Hello?" said Toshi

A silver pipe-like object protruded from the crack.

An explosion.

The awful sound of searing flesh and blood hitting the wooden veranda. Then, silence.

The boom of the gun crackled and echoed throughout the silent streets. Little Toshi stumbled and fell. Emi slowly approached her unmoving brother. He had a single expression on his face, sheer horror. Or at least, what was left of his face.

Emi looked down onto her clothes. Her dress was painted in red.

"Aaaah…" Emi stammed. She screamed and pleaded for her brother to wake up, but it was no use.

"Now fuck off!" demanded a new voice, the gun's hot metal tip touch her forehead.

"Yui…" I say, "Did you just hear that?"

Yui had turned on her flashlight after hearing the gunshot. The two of us were down another street, we notice the zombies approaching from the western road.

"Those…those cunts just shot a child" she says.

She stared at me, "Those fucking cunts just killed a child"

As soon as you think you've seen mankind at its blackest, you suddenly get hit with this.

"Rito!"

"Wh-what?"

"Did you hear me, those fucking cunts just killed a kid! They shot him! There's a little girl there too! We need to get her!"

"O-oh" I affirmed.

Oh god, I hope shock isn't kicking in now, of all times.

"Fuck! There's no time to be shocked! C'mon!" She revs up her bike and speeds off.

I snap back to reality and follow suit. We reach the house, the man has the door open more so now, I run over to the girl and without speaking, pick her up. Yui doesn't hop off the bike, she doesn't need to. The man pulls the trigger but realises he's out of bullets. He quickly slams the wooden door shut. I reach the bike and sit the crying girl on the banana seat. Yui gets off her bike and aims. She unloads a torrent of bullets from two silence pistols at the door. A thump could be heard against the door and a collective group of screams from inside.

I notice figures walking down the street, it's the dead. I can see at least twenty with my flashlight. The lights of the house all flash on, Yui's found herself a brick that was detached from the low rising wall surrounding the house. She chucks it hard at a boarded up window. Its broken through. She repeats and makes herself a steady hole opening inside. I fumble with a Molotov cocktail, the rag is already in the bottle, but I need to pour the petrol in. I spill a little on my boots but that's okay.

Yui's noticed the cocktail, cheers out "Alright! Tag Team! Your Turn!" and puts her attention to the zombies, which were approaching closer. Shes runs up to the ones at the front and slays them with her own sword. I light the Molotov and chuck it through the window. Someone in the room already grabs it before it breaks and tosses it outside. I ready my gun, sprint over, fire through the window a few times to keep the people away, and chuck the Molotov inside, making sure it smashes on the stained white shag carpeting.

"Catch this, Bitch!" I scream

There's a shriek, presumably from the cockroach who caught the bottle the first time. The front door bursts open and an inflamed fat woman tries to escape. Her skin is singed, I unsheathe my sword and belt her in the face like a baseball. The fat bitch falls to the ground in a heap.

The fire had spread throughout the house, although I cannot see inside the house (other than the lounge room and a hallway), I could tell the fire's was already out of control. A couple of muffled shouts and screams at the back of the house indicated shits was about to get real. I heard someone running for the front door. I get to the side of the front door and ready myself with the sword. A young man, maybe late 20's jumps out, I swing and nick his head clean off. His head tosses down the veranda stairs and lays amongst a couple of cutesy garden gnomes.

Including a _zombie_ garden gnome (maybe the owner had a taste for coincidently ironic-novelty items?).

I hear a voice behind me, Yui's failing her arms and yelling out something unintelligible. She's a few meters too far to understand over the commotion in front of me. She's already on her bike, so I bolt to the gate. The zombie horde is approaching closer, they've reached the next house. I hear glass smash above me and a woman lands on the concrete in front of me and rolls over violently. I'm not sure whether she was unconscious or dead. But after the next man jumped out of the window and landed on her in detail to violent to describe to you, it was obvious she was dead.

"Holy fuck" I mutter

"Rito! Come _the fuck_ on!"

"Yes!" I reply and jump on my bike. Now on Yui's bike, the little girl was shaking in fear.

The zombies are right at my bike, I pull out my pistol and slay a few straight dead in their undead heads.

Another person jumped out of the window and landed on the two people. The second man who jump out looked alive after he landed. But judging by the angle his neck is twisted, his isn't anymore.

We began to move our bikes. A few people run out the front door and try to shoot us without any sense of aim. A crowd of people bolt out the door and push the shooters out of their way. Some of these people were dressed in chemical hazard gear. Like if they were operating some sort of lab. Clouds of white smoke poured out of the house. Those unprotected started to cough and fall to the ground instantly.

Yui and I stop on our bikes, just far away enough to not let the other survivors catch up to us.

"What the fucks going on?" says Yui

"No clue" I reply

We hear people screaming out "Run! To the left!" only to be caught by the horde.

"No! To the right! Sharp right!" says a man before smacking right into a brick wall.

The fire had spread all over the house. The pressure built up in the glass windows, causing them to burst all at once.

"Yui, lets go!" I yell

"What…is happening?" she mumbles

"Yui! We need to get the hell out of here!" I call out

 _"What's going on? It chaos out there! Do you read me? Over."_ Tearju's voice buzzes through our walkie-talkies.

A man runs out from the house, turns around with his hands on his head in futility and mutters; "Oh fu-"

The whole house explodes in a fireball, the smoke leaked out on the street lights up, torching everyone around the house. The other houses connected systematically explode, killing everyone and destroying everything in the whole neighbourhood block.

"Fuck!" we scream in usion.

We speed off in our bikes and down an empty road. We're not quite sure what had just happened so we plan to return to Tearju.

We reach an exit and drive down a highway, swerving around empty cars and random stumbling zombies.

A jeep with two guys in it stare at us as we're driving down the highway. They wind down their windows.

"Yo boss" says one guy.

"What's up?" I say, knowing survivors, they could either be friendly or chat, or they could suddenly kill us. In these cases, it's always a good idea to be friendly.

"Your friend's got something on her back" The man snickers

"It's a kid, dude" I say

"Not anymore!" he laughs, winds up his window and speeds off.

 _What was that about?_ I wondered

I look at Yui, who is oblivious to what's hanging on to her.

It's the little girl, now zombified and just staring at me with bulbous yellow eyes.

"Wh…Oh Shit! Yui!" I scream.

She can't hear me with her helmet on. I speed past her by a few metres and call for her to stop. We pull over on the side of the road. She hops off, the zombie girl is holding onto her waist with a bug eyed, sadistic grin.

"Wh-what?" she says as she notices the girl holding onto her.

It flicks its eyes up to her.

"Gah!" she screamed and tried to shake it off.

The zombie opened its mouth and tried to stick its teeth in her butt. The two fell to the ground, I ran over and pulled it off her. The zombie let out a cackling growl. Yui crawled up to her bike and pulls out her gun. We're at the entrance to a big office building, but there's a long staircase leading down to a park. I hold the monster from behind. I bolted over to the stairs. I looked at the girl, down the staircase and back at the squirming monster.

"Uhh…sorry" I mutter as I throw the girl in the air and kick her down the stairs like a football. She rolls down, giving that cackling scream.

Yui walked over to me, "Is it dead?"

It wasn't moving or making any sounds.

"Maybe" I reply

It slowly moans.

"Should we kill it?" I ask

"I don't care" she says and walks back to her bike.

"Wait" I say

"What's wrong?"

"Did it get you?"

Yui instantly becomes flustered, "No, fortunately"

"I…I think I have to check" I say

She scowls and slowly bends over. There's no marks or any scratches. I thought it was ridiculous of the army to suggest wearing these leather pants in the summer but it turned out to be more helpful…still pretty gay though. I mean, they _are_ leather pants.

"Ok, how do you feel?"

"Pissed off!"

"Other than that?"

"Fine, I'm not in any pain"

"Ok"

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"Had a good enough at my moon?"

"I don't know I think I have to look at the dark side of the moon" I say with a wink

"How Shameless!"

"Fine, what if I show you my _dark side_?"

"Show me your moon and I'll show you the rough end of a _pineapple_!"

"Oh c'mon Yui, don't be cheeky!"

"You're just relishing in this, aren't you? Are we done here?"

"I dunno, how many more _ass related puns_ can we make?"

"Lets just go. Lets not keep Miss Tearju waiting"

She storms of towards her bike.

"Hey Yui…"

She slams on her helmet, I hear a very quiet "Ow-sonofa-"

"Yui, I hope you're not actually angry about that."

She takes a deep breathe, sighs and says, "It's okay I guess, its not your fault, but thinking about it, maybe we should of just waited the 30 seconds to see if I'd change…"

"Oh yeah, 30 seconds right, I forgot about that"

She stares at my shit eating grin, and screams, "Shameless!"

She revs up her bike and speeds off.

I stare at the zombie girl, it's trying to stand up but is too shaken up.

"W-Wait for me Yui!" I yell and follow suit.

Meet me at the end of the world. Where a lone record of an old English jazz song bellows from a long-dead man's office, throughout the broken hallways of a school, down the hills and throughout the empty streets. A teary-eyed soundtrack brings a discorded sense of comfort to the starving waste landers. At the end of the world, you'll see people's truest colours.

And then you get people like her. That person, a stoned faced girl, back in school she was the president of the Public Ethics Committee. Yui always seemed mad with authoritarian power, always complaining and trying to enforce her club's insane rules. This woman would turn out to be one of the coolest people I'd meet (of course, fun to make fun of as well).

In a day we had witnessed so many people die, a whole massacre occurred because of us. And we only killed them because of one kid, and that other child turned out to be some sort of healthy carrier. And I only found out because some guys thought what happened to us was "funny". I guess in this new world, we're all a bit desensitized.


	3. CH 02: Morning of the Earth

**A/N: In lieu of an author introduction or a note, here's a joke.**

 **Q. What did the orphan get for Christmas?**

 **A. Nothing.**

 **Merry Christmas!**

After we met up with Tearju we drove back to base. Our 'base' was a military run camp set up outside the city in a grassy knoll. This used to be the site of a campground, though I had never visited it. It provided enough security to keep us safe whilst keeping close enough contact with Saipan. I felt myself dozing off as we came back through the three security clearances. As usual, I had to play cool as I was being stared down by overworked and soldiers. While Tearju got our papers and id's ready to enter back into camp I noticed large fire trucks passing through to the city. They were stylised in military colours and boarded with thin metal sheets to protect themselves and the vehicles from the zombies. I gulped, I knew exactly where they were going. But it wasn't their appearance that scared me, it would be my Captain's reaction to this incident.

How can I explain it? Well you know how gruesome the fatalities are in those Mortal Kombat games? Well picture that times a trillion.

The Captain's face was fuming. He was yelling so loud that I could feel the windows vibrate and crack. Even his spit that hit my skin stun. You know those cheesy 80's cop movies, where the chief bursts his lungs at the young renegade cop who doesn't play by the rules, but always gets the job done? Well this was kind of like that, except it was me and Yui, cowering in our seats like the little bitches that we were. And the captain had absolutely every reason to yell at us.

"Two whole blocks, seventeen homes, all burnt down! And how many people did you see die?" he screams at us.

We were silent, refusing to make direct eye contact with him.

"Look for survivors first, kill only if necessary. How hard is that for you two to understand?"

We stayed silent.

"Look at me you little grime-soaked shingle-headed maggots!"

We threw our heads up, the seats rocked with the movement. As a 'disciplined Christian' this man refused to swear, so in hindsight, his colourful range of insults were pretty hilarious.

"You go in, playing Dirty Harry and think you can save the day? Avenge some random kid you didn't even know, who still turned out to be infected. We are the army, we decide who's a threat to public safety and whose not. You are just two volunteer cadets on a simple search and alert 'TO RESCUE'. Not carry out any rescues, not fight anyone or at least kill anyone still living! You committed murder! Murder, kids. If it wasn't for the fact we are so goddamn low on forces, you'd be locked up with the rest of the loonies. Now what do say for yourself?"

We stayed silent for a moment, until I felt my lips moving, almost autonomously, "We understood the house was a threat to the safety of others, as proven by the murder of the young boy. We attempted at a civil engagement with the coordinators of the house. However, they had immediantly opened fire on us, forcing us into a tango." (I hoped that was the correct use of the term 'Tango') "After engaging in an assault, the house emitted a potentially highly dangerous and flammable gas throughout the air. We believed it was toxic as we had seen some hostiles dressed hazard suits and fleeing the area. After several moments of clear exposure to the gas, hostiles began to suffer sudden…death-like symptoms…and as you know, the large explosion was caused by flame sparking the gas. We don't know yet what that gas was, but if we didn't discover it then, it could have either been used against the infected population, potentially severely altercating our grasp on the city. Or this chemical could have posed an even greater threat. They could have targeted us."

After speaking, I felt all the energy drain away from me and I fell deep into my seat.

The captain was shocked, his upper lip twitched, he himself couldn't tell whether he was impressed that a mere '4th Stance Frontline Research Civilian Volunteer" (or as the harsher nickname went, 'Frontline Bait) would deduct and evaluate the situation justly... or was even more pissed off. He reclined in his chair.

"Are you saying…that by engaging with the hostile forces, you two…prevented a biohazardous attack on our defence force? Are you saying you think you stopped a _terrorist_ plot?" he asked

"Though I do not believe I am at liberty to give a proper analysis on the views of other survivors living in the city…its possible for some survivors to have more…negative views on our army."

"Really?" the captain spoke in utter disbelief.

"Um…yes, Captain" I reply, reverting back to my shrunken state.

"Well…hmmm" he mumbled. He took a deep breath and tried to relax. "Although I would say that would be unlikely, it's already all too frequent that our forces are attacked and stock piles are raided. In the few weeks since this whole disaster began, we've seen all sorts of crazy bull-stuffings. I'd say domestic terrorism isn't even the craziest thing I've heard or seen of. But it'd be in my top '10 craziest bullshit pulled on me' list."

I simply nodded, Yui had her tiny fists balled up and shaking in her lap. Her hair still covering her face.

"I'm going to suspend your outsider mission permits for now, but you can still work around the base. Miss Kotegawa as you have undergone basic sniper training, you will work guard tower B tonight. Mr Yuuki. We'll find you something to do, otherwise stay at bay-"

"-BECAUSE WE'RE JUST PEOPLE, WE AREN'T BIG POMPOUS ARMY MEN LIKE YOU. SIR!" Yui belts out. She's clearly oblivious to the conflict already resolved.

The captain and I stare at her.

"…As I was going to say before, you're both dismissed" he says, moustache and upper lip still twitching violently.

"Yes sir! She will perform her duty tonight, sir!"

I took Yui by the hand and walk out of the office briskly. Then we bolted out of the building before the captain changed his mind and could give us an even worse punishment.

The mosquitos were buzzing loudly around the street lights. The crossroad aside us was still busy with people. The fort, mainly consisting of makeshift buildings mad of wood and canvas, would all flutter when a draft rolled by. Yui was mortified, I had to check that she wasn't in shock. Luckily this wasn't the case.

I notice we're still holding hands, my nervousness gets the better of me and I throw away her hand rather than what I should've done and let go of it gently.

"Hey Yui, are you okay?" I ask

She doesn't respond.

"Y…Yui?"

"Huh?" her eyes spark up and look at me, as if she were sleeping and I just woke her up.

"…are you okay?"

"y…yeah. I just…I dunno"

"….uh, okay"

"Rito" Yui grasps my hand. My heart skips a beat or two.

"Yes?" I reply, I feel sweat seeming on my forehead.

"Rito…we…just before. We killed people. I mean, we just murdered a group of... They didn't even do anything…and you're acting like nothing happened…its all too weird to me. It's like I'm in a nightmare. I just…I just don't know how to react to this"

I analyse what she said, and thought of what to say.

"Well. First of all, they did do something. They killed a child, were going to kill another, and then were going to kill us. Yui, they _were_ bad people, you even said it yourself back in that neighbourhood. They murdered children"

"B-b-but they were carriers! T-they needed to die!"

"Do you want to sit somewhere?-"

"-No! I want to talk about this now! Right here!"

She's still holding my hand, but now she's hurting me, though, not enough to emit a reaction out of me.

"Well Yui, carriers or not, they killed one child before they even knew they were infected. That means they didn't want to let them inside their home. They refused to let those kids, young kids, who wouldn't survive in the outside. Especially during the night. That was cowardly, weak, hell I can't even describe how low their actions were. Besides, like what was said in the captain's office, they had some weird smoke coming from the house, it blew up the neighbourhood. It could have been worse, it could have been used on us."

I see Yui does the same analysing study on my reaction.

I stare at her dead in her eyes, "Yui, they _deserved_ to die."

She lets go of my hand.

"Rito…you've changed" her voice starts to break, "You're not who you used to be…The Rito I knew never would hurt anyone. Ever."

I break eye contact and fall silent. I feel a depressing weight bear down on me. Its like the air grew ten pounds. Was this the realisation that I've became a cold blooded nihilist? People deserving to die? People killing kids? Yeah. Like I said before. I was desensitized, but maybe Yui still wasn't. She still had carried the weight of killing what once was living upon her.

"I suppose…" Yui breaks the depressing silence, "I guess…we had bikes and weapons, it would be likely they would have tried to kill us for our resources if they had the chance." She says.

"Yeah…exactly" I reply, my voice has weakened

We stand in the street in silence once more.

"But how can you just get over it so easily Rito? Just…killing another person" she asked

I ponder and finally say, "I guess…I just keep on pushing the thought to the back of my head and fill the rest with whatever worry I have at the present"

"But doesn't it ever come back?"

I place a comforting hand on my friend's shoulder and look at her with tired, red eyes, "Every single night".

She flashes the kind of smile you give off when you want to laugh, even if everything's completely hopeless, "Me too, me too" she says.

I slapped a mosquito away from my hand.

"Then…what can I do to make it stop?" she asked

"I have no idea. Therapy, I guess?"

"Yeah sure, I'll book an appointment-OH WAIT, we're in the middle of a fucking zombie apocalypse!"

I paused, "…I suppose they'll be hard to find then"

Yui stares at me with an eye twitching for a moment, I'm not sure if she's about to attack me or burst out laughing. Luckily, it's the latter.

"I suppose they'll be busy as well!" she laughs

I try to laugh on too, "Money's probably worthless, maybe we'll be using bottle caps"

She laughs harder, "You're lucky I got that reference"

We slowly calm down, passer-by's walk on but not without a quick glance at two idiots laughing at therapy. It looks like we've probably gone mad. Honestly, we probably did.

It seems like we're having a touching moment, until, "Ahh!" I yell and slap my neck

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just a mosquito" I say and rub my neck, "So what are you going to do now?"

"I've got tower duty tonight, graveyard shift"

"Ooh, fun" I joke

"Yeah, not fun" she retorts, "What about you?"

"I'm going to visit Momo"

That small smile leaves her face.

"Oh" she says

"You can come if you like"

"…I think that's for the best"

We break eye contact again.

"B-Besides, it's better if I come with you, you'll need someone to cry on. You're big on that. Crying." She speaks slyly.

"Me? Crying? You just want to see her to give yourself a reason to have a big sob, otherwise everyone will just remember how much of bubbling wuss you are!" I retort.

We always tended to do this, have some deep meaningful or super depressing conversation and then end it off with a few stupid laughs to kill the tension.

"I'll bring the tissues" she says

"I'll bring tissues, for your FACE!" I yell

"I'll bring the tissues for your face! So you can wipe that little bitch face of yours"

"Oh bringing out the heavy stuff. The big whacks at me. What are you, like 12?"

"Your face is 12!"

"Really?...thank you, I like to take care of myself. I like to look younger"

"…d-damn" she mutters

"Unlike you" I cast a cheeky, monkey-like grin at her.

"You bastard!" she screams and tries to whack my arm.

She yells at me as we laugh and run down the street. We laugh now because seeing Momo is not going to be fun. Definitely not at all…

It was just past 6:30 in the afternoon now, the clinic was still open for visitors. We found Momo in the same place that she had been since the massacre, in her room in the mental care facility. Since the attack, she had been stuck in an emotionally-induced, traumatised state. All she ever did was sleep on her bed or sit in a corner muttering to herself. Muttering pure gibberish. After seeing many friends and her own sisters horrible murdered right before her very eyes, I'd understand why this happened. Either way, no amount of drugs had worked, although she had shown a few signs of opening up to Tearju-sensei. Although all that amounted to was actually looking at her in silence. It makes sense too, Tearju's has always been about as quiet as Momo is now.

We passed Nurse Mikado on our way in. As an alien herself, Mikado new the Devilukian body very well. It was almost identical to a human, with the inclusion of a long black tail. This tail's tip was shaped like the ace of spades and its feel was similar to that of a reptile, yet it had no scales. After talking to the Nurse, she deducted it was some mental illness with a name I couldn't pronounce. Nurse Mikado stated that their psyche worked almost exactly to humans, so it was easier to diagnose her.

Yui and I knocked on the door and entered. Even though she wouldn't answer either way, it seemed right to keep up the formalities.

She was sitting in the corner with her back to us. The clinic had changed her out of her school uniform, she was wearing a loose fitting shirt and long grey pants – something easy and comfortable to wear.

"Hey there Momo" I spoke gently

We crouched down and I softly pat her on the back. She stops talking and remains quiet. Like an animal playing dead.

"How have you been?"

No answer.

"We've been well, slowly working our way back up to your house, we might even make it tomorrow. We'll can make it to Celine and…her babysitter" said Yui

No answer.

"Her babysitter's name is Chihiro" I whisper to Yui.

She nods, "Y-Yeah we can find Celine and Chihiro and we can bring them back to base…do you…do you remember Celine? Y'know little plant girl? Adorable…pudgy face?" Yui adds.

No answer.

"Pudgy face?" I ask.

"Yeah her face is…kinda…pudgy…never mind" says Yui

"It's all good" I reply and flashed a smile. Yui was great for emotional support, after all, coming here with me was a brave enough thing to do.

I find myself wrapping my arms around her, my face buried in her shoulder. Momo was always cheery, a tad manipulative, but always well meaning. This was not her. The Momo I knew was gone…dead almost. She was lifeless. A hollow shell of herself. I couldn't handle it anymore.

Yui's wrapped her arms around me and slowly pulls me away from the girl and into her arms.

"Now, now. We don't want to hurt her." she says

 _Was I hugging her too hard?_ I thought as Yui squeezed me tight. I shivered nervously in tears.

"You're not so tough now, aren't ya?" she tries to act playful, but even her voice sound cracked.

We embrace for a little while, I have no idea how long time has passed, but surely it's time to rest.

We get up and leave, but before I do I give Momo a peck on her forehead.

We exit in silence. I then try to break this horrible, depressing silence by wiping my mouth.

"Yuck! Her hair was really oily!" I exclaim in a half-hearted attempt at lighting the mood.

Yui tries to let out a little laugh in sadness. Just to follow along.

We leave the clinic booth and head down the road, away from the lights and into the darkness.

Momo was still sitting in her corner. After we had left, she soon stopped the mumbling. Her brain was trying to reconnect the wires and comprehend what happened. Which was the same thing she had been trying to do every day now. She looked up, the moonlight shined down through her window. Momo recognized the moon. Space. Her home planet laid out millions of light years away. But she did not recognize anything else.

But with a single thought peaking in her mind, she spoke.

"Ri…to…"

I remember the days after the massacre. Yui was a blubbering mess, hell, everyone was. But I never felt the most pain of seeing anyone cry than when Yui did. She was not only a student, she was the president of the ethics committee. Her role made her feel like she had a place in the school. She lost contact with her family, her friends, her technology and she lost the school, and to the mind of a teenage girl, she lost everything.

It was now past midnight. I was resting on my bed (which were barracks shaped like pavilions with basic fold out beds and rows of curtains squared around us and gave us some privacy. The curtains were a luxury I never expected the army to provide). I felt a tap at my foot and I leaned up. It was a shadowy figure looming over the end of my bed.

The soft voice of a kind female spoke to me,

"Oi, Rito you cunt, wake the fuck up!"

"Huh?" I mumbled, half-asleep.

"Come with me, I've got tower guard duty and need someone to fill in for the role for the prick who fuck'n bailed on me" quote the quaint voice.

I stared at her for a sec before picking myself up, "Sup' Yui"

"Lets go" she said

I slipped on my boots and we walked towards a guard tower, "Hey Yui, random question, did you ever spend any time in Australia by any chance?"

"Nah, the fuck are you going on about mate?"

"Oh okay, nevermind"

"And shut yer trap before the other guards see us, I'm still meant to be at the tower. Now walk faster before I show your back side the rough end of a pineapple!"

"Yes Miss Dundee" I jest

She flicks her hair back and quietly screeches at me, "Lay off the nicky-names, maaaaaaaate!"

We climbed up a tall ladder to a balcony where it lead to a small room. The room supplied several chairs, a long desk that crawled along three corners, a mini fridge and a ton of expensive look equipment that would take me years to figure out how they would work. After she locked the door, Yui bent down to a corner part of the floor. She took off her gloves and felt around the wooden planks.

"A-ha" she muttered

She grasped a fingernail over a wooden board and slowly lifted out a loose plank. She started ripping away a part of the floor.

"Oh right" she turned to me, "just keep an eye on outside, we've seen a few of those icky bastards crawling about earlier tonight. They shouldn't get too close too here though."

"Uh, sure" I confirmed. I wasn't sure what she was trying to accomplish by dissembling this guard tower but it must be important…otherwise I'd be clearly questioning her sanity.

Who knows? Maybe ripping apart infrastructure is fun?

She tug her hands deeper to pull out a large metal plate and quietly placed it on top of the wooden boards.

"Oh and help yourself to the fridge" she said, still working her way thumbing through the ground.

I opened the fridge and it was only beer.

"Uh, Yui, there's only booze here?"

"Oh...ok go ahead then"

"Wait! What?" I exclaimed, such a statement from Yui could've meant two things, she wasn't listening and was too preoccupied or she had gone off the deep end.

"Pass me one too, please. What've we got? Asahi? Red Tick Beer? Or do we just have that disgusting Australian beer we have?"

I searched the contents, all the beers were written in English, with my poor grasp of the language I was still able to read the word 'Australian' on the labels.

"Uhh, I think they're all Australian, which is the bad one?"

Yui pulled out a large silver metal box from the ground, "All of it! Bleh!"

She throws the metal plate back in lazily as well as the bottom flooring. She puts more effort into the placing the final pieces of the floor together, making it look like nothing was even there. Whatever was in the metal case, it must be expensive, or at least worth a lot to her. It was presumably a gun, which makes sense. Things, like weapons, medicine and anything useful have had a nasty habit of disappearing in this fort. It's only logical for Yui to hide her things in a place like this.

"I'm surprised you are so passive about drinking all of a sudden, Yui. You know we're both underage, why the change of heart?"

"Isn't it obvious?" she said, "the school's destroyed, so is the ethics committee. So, screw it, my ethics are gone too!"

She brought the metal case over to the desk and rested it upon and small pile of papers. She realised I was staring at her funny.

"Relax, I'm joking. Well, sort of, if you wanna drink that crap that's fine with me. For myself however, I have to keep this tower in check. Besides, its not like I'm suddenly going to join a nudist colony or anything" she laughs. She stares at me again before squinting at me, "you would like that wouldn't you?"

I turn away and try to change the subject (and hiding my blushing cheeks), "W-Well, I'm more surprised how lightly you're taking the whole…situation"

"Situation? You mean losing the committee. Well that not the biggest of problems at hand, I can live without it..." she paused with mournful grin, "But I would be lying if I said I didn't miss it"

She took a beer from the fridge and said "Screw it, I'll have one. I used to drink all the time…" She took a long, deep drink from and continued, her voice breaking just slightly, "At home. With my dad and my brother. When we watched the soccer at home."

She quickly changed topic back to the committee, "As I said, I do miss it, I really do. Hey Rito, do you know why I started that club?"

"Um, I'm not sure"

A small smile grew, less melancholic and more nostalgic, "When I came to the school, the boys ran rampant with harassing the girls. Always trying to flip our skirts and being all ecchi as usual…Of course the girls weren't any better. Caking on make-up and looking like Puerto Rican prostitutes and harassing the guys, both the ones that were into it and the ones that weren't. Of course it was likewise for the boys too."

"The boys wore make up to make them look like prostitutes?" I interrupt

"Exactly" she laughs, "So I found a group of students who wanted to help me put some respect into the school and the teachers and the principal were completely supportive. I knew very well from my first year as the president and the face of the board that I would be hated by the student population, maybe even some of the teachers. But I was fine with that, because I saw what I accomplished and how not just the school viewed itself, but the community saw us no more as a rundown dump, but as something better, we were finally teaching other kids the self-respect they desereve and could use to lead better lives-"

By this point I realised she downed half the fridge's booze supply and was completely out of it.

"-lead better lives…and shit, you know?"

I smiled. I had no recollection of seedy girls and creeper guys, so I continued pretending I had an idea as to whatever the hell she was talking about. So I responded, "You know what they say, _'Manners Maketh Man'_ ".

"Oh come on Rito, we both know you're the most shameless of them all" she laughs

"Really now, how so?"

"You know Rito" she wiggles her eyebrows, "All the girls you always hanged out with. I know guys like you, always shameless and always ecchi."

 _She keeps saying 'Shameless', is she too afraid to just say 'perverted'?_ I wondered

"Aw what?" I rip open a beer and skull it, "The fact that I live with three alien princess….chicks?"

"Yeah! No doubt you'd be up to something shameless!"

"Honey, you don't know the freaking half of it" I mutter

"Well anyway, you're cool now", Yui grabs a desk chair and sits back, looking at me with those bright, almost mystifying eyes "I guess".

"You too…I guess" I laugh, grabbing a seat from another side of the room.

The moon was looking especially peaceful, and the silence between us was comforting. For a moment in time I forgot we were living in the midst of end of the earth.

She open the metal case, inside revealed a ton of black padding foam, pulled away from its top layer was a sniper rifle. I still wasn't up to date with all various models but I could recognize the type of gun judging by the long scope and long nozzle. It was painted in white and gold colours in the shapes of spirals.

"Whoa" I exclaimed

"You like it?" she said, "Its an M24. I haven't really found a name for it yet, I've only had it for a few days"

"And they put you up to guard this tower? With your partner gone, a mini fridge full of beer and with a gun you haven't even learned how to use properly. That really sounds like a terrible combina-"

"In Nazi Germany, near the end of the world war II-"

 _Nazi Germany? This explanation is going to go greeeeeaaat._

"- the nation's capital was in such despair that no longer only the men could go to war. They had to rely on the young, the weak and the old. Although of course I'm not comparing us to the Nazis but what I'm getting at is that desperate times call for desperate measures. The tower we're in now is placed at such an odd position due to hastily built infrastructure that I would only be required to use this firearm if the three guard towers in front of me were to suddenly be destroyed. In these towers in front of us, they would have either, one solider and one civilian in training, or two soldiers. So trust me, the army is doing all they can to get the best used out of its survivors without putting anyone in harm."

That shut me up for a moment, but then again…"Well okay then, but what's with the beer?"

"I stole it"

"Ah."

Yui downed her last beer. She's called herself 'a mild drinker' in the past, perhaps she got this title from an Irishman?

"Well, since as there's nothing to do, how about showing me how to work this thing?" I ask

She smiles and takes out the dissembled pieces. She showed me what each piece did and how it worked together to create the firearm. With Yui's know-how and my still-capable motor skills, we assembled her sniper rifle. She showed me the correct ways of inserting ammo, dislodging malfunctioning bullets and checking the safety switch.

"Okay now to fire" Yui begins, she gets behind me and wraps her arms around me. Well, not _me_ , but she places my hands on the rifle and helps position in, making sure the scopes in balance. I immediately felt nervous as her soft breathing warmed up my neck and her gloved hands wrapped around my hands.

"If you're right handed, place that on the trigger. Now bring your other hand to the bottom at the front and bring the whole thing up to your armpit"

"Uh…ok, like this?"

"Yep" she said, "that's good"

She leapt back up, possible realising how awkward she may have made me feel.

"Yep! So just aim and squeeze the trigger and you're all good. Yep! Yep!" her voice shakes, though she tries to remain perky.

"Th-thanks Yui"

"Anytime!" she laughs nervously

Some time had passed when a series of bright lights and shouting came from outside in front of the gates.

"What's going on?" I say

I could see another soldier going hysterical from outside the gate. He left his jeep behind the final boom gate for entry. It was filled with civilians and injured infantry. Yui took off the scope of the sniper and used it as a telescope.

"Not sure, but judging by their body language, one guy is pleading with the other two guards. Apparently something's up" she confirms, "The crazy guy has blood on him, that's possibly why he's not allowed through the gate, he needs to go to quarantine." She added

"What can you make of the people in the jeep?" I ask

"Well some are silent, but there's some kids in the front passenger row that look really shaken up-…whoa. Okay."

"What's up?"

"The Lieutenant is here! Something must be serious if he'd be coming out at this time of night"

"Jeez, thats real comforting" I mutter

The bloodied man was given a towel to wipe up and a medic in a hazmat suit came over to take a blood sample. The man must've checked out as he and his caravan of survivors came through. However, the man followed the Lieutenant to another location. After this died down, we pretty much sat in silence for the rest of the night, occasionally sparking conversation. Yui was a pretty cool chick, she was funny, especially when drunk. We were pretty tired though, thus, the silence.

It must've been five or six now. We watched the morning of the earth. After watching that commotion a while before, I finally got the courage to finally talk about the topic I've been wanting to talk to her about all night.

"Hey Yui. I want to talk to you about something important" I said

"Whats up?" she replies

I stared at her straight and hard, "We need to go back to our homes. Or at least, I need to go back to mine"

Yui, who was leaning back in her chair with her feet on the desk, sat upright.

"Rito…I'm not sure if…" she trailed off to see me looking at her with my hardened expression. She continued, "Your family is even alive", before I had the chance to reply, she added; "Because I'm not even sure if my family is alive either".

"Then we should go soon, when we get those motorbike rights back. We can go back, just the two of us. Or with Tearuju, she could help us out!" I try to be optimistic, "Even if it's true…that they're gone…I want to get clarity from this. And…if I do find them, and they have been turned. I would prefer to…complete…their lives myself, even bury them if I have enough time, and its safe to do so of course".

Yui rested her arms together in the way she always does when she's undecided. She closes her eyes and a takes a deep breath.

"If we can get some people on board, INCLUDING the director of operations. Then MAYBE we could go" she said.

I smile, "Thank you, Yui"

"It's only because you said you wanted clarity. Well I think I'd like that too. But I'd like to be safe more than have some clarity. So we must plan this out first" she says, still in the same position.

I nodded (even though I knew she couldn't see me doing that).

"Well, that settles it than" I spoke in a strong tone, dictating that our plans had been confirmed, "We're going back home."


	4. CH 03: Kill the Night Part 0

Chapter Three: Kill the Night Part 0: Kotegawa takes the stairs

 **A/N: RIP Starman, Snape & Miss Katie May.**

 **A/N: Part 0 and Part 1 were originally one whole chapter. However, even after being edited down from even more pages, the whole chapter was 21 A4 Pages long and around 9221 words long! Part Two and Three already had cover pages and things planned out for them, I thought it was easier making a part zero instead. So the next chapter will be released shortly. Lucky you! You waited patiently and so I'm giving you two chapters and over 9000 words of sweet, juicy violence!**

I remember the morning the world ended….

"Hey get back here!" I commanded

The boy was a first year and today he made his final mistake. It was at that time, in that place, I knew at that point that the strings of fate connected, intertwining them with myself, the boy and his victims, and to this very hallway… _and to my very sandwich_.

School would start in a few minutes.

The boy giggled while he ran. Being faster than the girls, he thought he was invincible. But no one, absolutely no girls-shower-peeping creepazoid would get away from me.

"This kid tried to sneak into the showers, help us Yui!" cried one of the many girls chasing him

"Ha! I saw boobs! I saw boobs!" the boy cheered on like he won the friggin' Olympics. He jested on with all the sense and sensibility your average fifteen year old idiot could attain.

Some of the younger kids cheered him on. _How shameless! As the president and founder of the ethics committee, it is my duty to retain order and ethical conduct within the halls of this school!_

I rolled up my armband that wrote, 'ETHICS COMMITTEE PRESIDENT: YUI KOTEGAWA' and looked to my sandwich. My eyes reflected gold in the shine of its yellow mustard. This sandwich mum made me today, I thought it was a meal to replace the breakfast I skipped. But no, this was a sandwich… of destiny!

I peeled off the top bread layer, thick with mayonnaise and guacamole – the disturbingly tasteful combination only the Kotegawa house knew (and now you know too, my friends). I pulled the wholegrain bread slice back, then thrusted it forward like an Olympic shotput thrower. The bread flew…soared…and whacked him straight in the face.

I could imagine a table of judges giving me five scores of '10' points in the Olympic sport of bread tossing.

The boy struggles to control himself as he tries to pull the slice off his face, he ends up slamming his head, into the class window beside him with a loud _Tha-wack!_ He drops to the floor lifelessly.

"Yeah, take that Issei!" the girl cheered.

It's a good thing he actually said _'Ha I saw boobs'_ or I would've attacked a student without reason. He may have even been bullied, but alas no, he had to dig himself a grave and bury himself in it too.

I crouched down to the kid and peeled off the sandwich from his face, "Have you learned your lesson sweetie?" I ask

He groans, "What lesson? You just threw…aioli and avocado…in my face" He tasted it, "Mmm, not bad actually-"

"Oi, Cunt, I'm talking about you sneaking into the girls showers. Do you know who I am? I'm Yui Motherfucking Kotegawa. President and Founder of the Saipan High Ethics Committee."

He stares at me, "What the hells' an ethics committee?"

"The kind of committee that stops behaviour likes yours and will teach you how to become a civilised member of society"

He stares at me again before saying, "So…what? You running some sort of communist brainwashing camp?"

I stare at him, "uhh…wh-what?" I was stumped. I had nothing to say, luckily I wasn't up for any big public debate or I would've looked like the bigger sap.

Soon a teacher came to take him to the principle's office. That being done and my sandwich ruined, I walked to my class starving and needing to seriously re-evaluate my committee's image.

Notable short-term goal: make it less North Korean-like.

I sat in my usual seat next to the window, up the back of the room. Now one would think that such a spot you often find in anime would be perfect place to sit, but it was the worst. Especially on a skin-melting day like this. My classmate Kurumu sat next to me reading a newspaper. It wasn't the schools newspaper, it was some national one.

It doesn't matter if you try to care about this person, she would pass away an hour later.

"Hey Kurumu, feeling a bit vintage?" I ask

She goes off at me, "Lemme take a wild gander, you're trying to give me crap because I'm reading a proper newspaper? Well don't bother, its happened to me fifty times today already. My tablet's broken so I can't use that."

"Actually I was talking about your Gundam bracelet"

"O-oh, sorry."

"Well what's the news, anything big?"

"…uh, actually I'm just reading the comics"

I laughed, "Okay, so whats the scoop on Garfield?"

"Oh well this one was actually pretty funny. Check it out, here-"

Boom.

The whole room shakes, things are thrown off our desks, people break to the floor.

Boom. Boom.

I wake up in a jolt.

Knock. Knock.

It was in the early morning when we heard an unexpected knock at the door. I was also really hungry.

I freaked out, "Oh shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!"

I looked through the sniper scope, nothing was out in the fields. Someone was just at the door. I gestured at Rito to open the door for a bit before I realised he was still sleeping. The knocking continued, growing more frantic. I ran over, it was the captain, the one yelling at us earlier. His eyes, widened with fear, were behind hazmat goggles. By the look in his eyes, I would've said he was scared, but I couldn't see anything else of him, he was wearing a fully white hazmat suit.

"Captain Cantarkus" I exclaimed. Rito woke up, falling off his chair. He scrambled to his feet and yelped at the site of our captain.

"Wha! Why are you dressed like that?" he screamed

"Relax Rito" I put a calming hand on his shoulder.

After he took a moment to collect himself, he saluted the captain. Cantarkus seemed desperate for us to sit down, as illustrated through his frantic hand movements. Two medical officers in hazmat suits were waiting at the bottom of the ladder.

"What's wrong?" I say

"You said you saw white smoke coming out of the house?" he asked Rito.

"Yes" Rito confirmed

"White smoke that killed people instantly"

"Yes"

"Okay, both of you must come with us, you kids might be in danger"

We looked at each other, I, naturally being cautious, asked, "Why? what's happening?"

"There's no time to detail, but we think you've been poisoned, you think you inhaled arsenic gas in the Nakamura block explosion. We _need both_ you to come with us". I noticed his gun in his holster, his hand hovering over it. We followed him down the ladder and were taken to the medical ward to be examined.

"Wait, what about the tower?" Rito asked

"Already on it" the Captain said

As we spoke, I watched a gruff, beefy looking soldier holding a tiny pistol, climbed up the ladder to the guard tower. He was accompanied by a little old lady carrying a rifle almost bigger than her. I grabbed my sniper, quickly taking out the ammo and shoving it back into its case as we started to leave.

The Captain talked to us on the way, "Our researchers found that the whole area was teeming with a various toxic gases. Mainly a variation of chlorine. Y'know, chlorine, stuff you use in pools? This was much stronge, thus deadlier. Possibly industrial grade chlorine. We also found a basement in the main blast area with what possibly were bathtubs filled with an arsenic trioxide agent. I'm not too sure about what all of this means, I'm not scientist of course, but what I take from it is that these fools were planning something big. I'm talking about 'ISIS' big."

"So…we really did stop a terrorist attack!" I exclaimed

"This is all so sudden" I hear Rito mutter

"That's right, unfortunately for you two, we'll need to make sure you're not infected, that's why these doctors will need to check you over" up until this point, the Captain followed us, but a doctor stopped him from entering the ward any further. He shouted out the last part, "By the way! Great Job!"

That was surprising. Thanking us for what we did. _Wow. Miracles really do come true_ I think to myself.

They took us into separate rooms, Rito followed some men into a space of the ward, layered off by plastic sheets and manoeuvrable curtains. A group of female nurses took me into a separate room. I wondered why they were all women, then it hit me.

"Oh god, you're gonna ask me to strip, aren't you?" I ask openly

"Don't worry, its just precaution. We've seen it all before. You're no different. We don't care and yes. You are right" the tallest nurse said in a monotonic expression, it sounded like she had repeated this a million times. She sounded like she was reading off a que card. This uncaring demeanour worked as a slight relief, her indifference to this situation soften the tension and put me under the impression that I'm not diseased or doomed, unlike the Captain made it out to be.

Over the course of an embarrassing hour later, the doctors and nurses checked over my body for any signs of infection. They put me under an x-ray, took various bodily samples I refuse to detail into. When they were finished with their various tests, they gave me a white shirt, pants and slippers to dress into. They needed to examine my clothes, they could have been infected. During the process I made the mistake of asking why the clothes were all white.

"Its so if you bleed we'll know as soon as possible and from where"

I gulped and decided not to ask anything else unnecessary.

After a while of waiting the doctor came back with her face mask off, she was actually quite handsome. Like one of those soap opera doctors, "Good news, Miss Kokegawa"

"-Kotegawa" I corrected him.

She ignored me and spoke over me, "The tests are back are you were not infected. From what you have told me, I believe you were not close enough to the blast area to be infected."

I sighed with relief.

"You are alright to go back to your dorm"

The doctor was about to leave when I interjected, "Wait!" I said, "If I wasn't affected, but what happened to Rito?...my friend, he was with me at the time-"

"I don't know, we only conducted tests on you. We only talked to his surgeon about the symptoms"

"The symptoms? But why? Wh-what about results?! Is he okay!?" I yell

The doctor just leaves the room, going into an lab and shutting the door behind her. Obviously this behaviour was pretty cunt-ish, I would later on understand why someone would act this way. Say that all the men and women in the fire trucks putting out the fires were needed to come here for testing. That's possibly about thirty to fifty people. This doctor has probably gone insane with all the repetitive testing. Another cause is the lack of staff in any profession, this doctor may have been awake for more than 24 hours now.

I was the only person in the room now, a flood of relief swept through me, but a tidal wave of fear swallowed me. What happened to Rito? Is he okay?

I run outside into the main ward. I'm away from all those masked faces, the air feels less tense. But then I see it.

Two large nurses carry out a stretcher.

A body wrapped in a white sheet.

I don't know which room it came from. My eyes widen, my knees quiver. A shiver runs through my spine, hits the nervous system and my legs collapse to the floor.

"N-No…" I say

My eyes are misty.

He can't be…dead.

 _He was closer to the house._

There's no way. He has to be still here.

 _Rito is dead._

Who will I have left? I…I…I…I Love-

"Yui?" a familiar voice appears behind me.

I slowly turn.

"Are you okay?" he says

It's my…friend. Rito. He's back. He survived.

"Here" he says, holding out his hand.

I let loose a smile as I let him help me up.

"Yui…you're…are you right? What happened?" he grows frantic.

"Its okay. I'm okay." I whisper

He stops. His lips turn thin, but his eyes have softened and he relaxes. "I'm okay too, Yui" he said. I notice he shakes a for a second and wraps me in a tight squeeze. He's starts crying up into my shoulder.

"You're happy to see me" I let out a gentle laugh

We must've been acting so shameless but I didn't care at that point. We were both safe and that's all I cared about.

He hardens up and lets go, "S-sorry" he says

I give him another hug and say "It's okay"

We left go, Rito coughs and looks away to hide his embarrassment.

"I'm so tired" I say, trying to hide my enflamed cheeks, "l-l-lets just go to sleep"

We were given our old clothes back, cleaned an ironed – a gesture I was infinitly grateful for in this new world – and we left. To Rito's bunker.

It was morning, 0600 hours. My motor skills were still overwhelmed with tiredness and the remains of a night of heavy drinking. The whole time I was at the ward, I was still purged into that dreamlike state of drunkenness. I was too unwell to make my way to the female barracks, so I remember crawling in bed with Rito. Probably to his usual shock and awe, though accompanied by his shameless sense of pacifism. I had ignored it and he relaxed. Of course I wouldn't have done such a thing sober, but I was feeling lazy, feeling too easy and my friend's bed appeared all-too comforting. As I awoke later that day I made the mental note to apologize to him…Then I fell asleep again.

The second time I woke up a pounding headache hit me like a bomb going off. I moaned and Rito's gentle, rhythmic breathing stopped flowing through my hair.

I looked around, the room was mostly silent and completely empty. Empty except for the figure gleaming at us from my end side of my bed.

"Well, well" Mikado, the former school nurse said, "Congratulations Rito. You're a man now!"

My heart paced more than it was already. I shut my eyes and pretended to be asleep.

 _A groggy voice moaned,_ "What time is it?"

Rito looked at his watch, then down at me. He began to freak out, _"_ Wait! Did we have sex?! Did we have sex in the barracks…with a room full of men present? And with a…"

He stopped. He noticed we both had our clothes on, we only had taken off our boots and coats. He took a deep breath and shifted his legs away from mine.

"On my planet we would've made you a cake, maybe I can see if one of the chefs can whip you up a nice pastry with the inscription 'CONGRATS ON NOT BEING A VIRGIN FOREVER'" she laughed

He looked at me, I patted him his chest and smirked, "You wish, big boy".

"Ah! I'm sorry!" Rito looked like he was going to squeal with embarrassment.

"It's okay" I let out a small laugh, still hammered with the friggin' hangover.

"Aw, young love!" Mikado cheered

I turn to the nurse and scowled, "As for you, Nurse. Isn't it a bit creepy that you of all people would start mocking two teens sharing a bed like this?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well I'm just saying that a forty year old like yourself shouldn't be saying such things."

Mikado flashes demonic red eyes, "I'm 27!"

"That sounds like something a 40 year old would say!" I retort

Mikado grinds her teeth, I've never seen her this angry before. Let alone angry, "Listen you little shits, get the fuck out of this bed, get dressed and meet me in the debriefing room. We have a serious problem"

We gasp.

"Yeah, that's right, I swear sometimes too! And guess what? You're not my pupils anymore, you're just some kids I have to make sure their little asses don't get shot up or chewed out."

We pause in silence. I regret what I said, I was only really joking too.

"Does that mean we can call you Ryoko?" Rito asks

"Yes! It also means I can beat you up!" she says

She throws off our blanket and grabs me by my feet.

"IT'S A PRANK BRO! IT'S JUST A PRANK!" I scream as I'm thrown off the bed.

The three of us sprinted towards one of the few buildings actually constructed, not set up. We were already late. We reached a building with only few offices, this was the debriefing rooms.

Rito, who was in front of me, turned around, "Come on, we'll miss out-"

He fell over in a heap. He ran into the captain. This man must be made of steel or something when Rito collided with him, only Rito fell over. The captain barely even moved. I reminded myself not to engage in a fight with this man.

"Oh, Mr Yuuki" the captain says in a shockingly cheery manner.

He helps my clumsy friend up, "I see you're late"

"S-sorry sir!" Rito shouted

"Relax its fine, I can't get mad at you since you really helped us out yesterday" he said in a disturbingly cheerful demeanour, "Glad to see you two made it out alive" he laughs

"Y-yeah" I say

"Come on, we're just about to start" he says, gesturing for us to come inside. A call came across the room by Tearju-sensei, accompanied by her daughter, Yami. They had a few seats spare, so we sat in the back of the room. Yami was a girl I rarely had talked to, even after the massacre. That being said, she wasn't very talkative. An alien like Tearju or Mikado, it was said that she had been some sort of assassin in a past life. Although she was understandably light on providing details. Before the massacre, I had a few conversations with her. At first I thought she was disinterested in talking to me, but then I thought she may have just been shy. But nowadays, this wasn't the case. She still wore that look of indifference, but I could see glimpses of other emotions. Intensity, coldness and calculating hatred. It was as if she was a time bomb and ready to explode in a shower of suddenly violence. The way she hunt down zombies was less like a person and more like a machine. She lured a target in, then snap down and kill it. No large mess, no fuss, not a single wrong move. Each kill was thoroughly planned and systematic.

To put in lightly, she was very…interesting. Though I wouldn't dare get on her bad side. She noticed me staring at her and I turned away, possibly making an embarrassing yelp whilst doing it.

"Here guys" I turned, it was Mikado, she handed us a plate of toast, fruit and water. I was wondering where she ran off too.

"Thanks heaps" said Rito

I replied with a "Thank You" as the Lieutenant got up to speak.

He got off to an awkward start, "Alright men… and ladies"

Lieutenant Aiken was one of those elderly men who've spent their whole life in the army. The kind of old man not used to the ever growing presences of females. However, sparing us women any grief, he was open to the change, just not used to it.

"At 0130 hours today we received intel about an incoming invasion from the diseased population. Captain Akoma from the Fort Geilo in Jamiko delivered this information to us and will now debrief you all on the current situation"

A man sitting to the side rose from his seat, wincing in pain whenever he moved his broken arm. I recognised this guy, he was the man we saw screaming out frantically last night. Although now he's been cleaned and his wounds mended, he appeared to be oddly at peace.

"Thank you Lieutenant" the Captain spoke in an raspy voice, possibly caused by his outlandish behaviour before, "Occurring a week ago, we received word from Hiroshima about collective hordes of the undead grouping together and using their collective forces to take out towns and even entire cities." I hear a man in the front loudly 'Pfft', I wasn't sure I could believe it myself. The Captain clearly heard this and swallowed his internal instinct to lay out the Fist of God-like Justice on this kid.

Instead, he continued, "I'm sure most of you don't believe me, and frankly neither did I, but we've since lost total contact with Hiroshima. The Air Forces have documented the city has been totalled, as well as this horde does in fact exist."

The Captain went over to his laptop and tuned the projector screen onto some photos. We watched in silence as we saw videos and photos of the monsters crawling through streets, wiping small towns off the face of the planet and worst of all, capturing the cruel deaths of civilians.

Most watched in awe, a few people cried, the obnoxious guy from before ran outside to throw up (accompanied by the concerned Cantarkus).

"We have dubbed this to be the 'Million Man Horde'" The lieutenant turned off the laptop. Over the next three days, we received many more survivors coming from the northern regions. All escaping this horde. As Jamiko is a town located at a higher elevation than most cities in the region, and surrounded by a mountain terrain, we believed we would be safe for a least two or three more days. But there increased numbers allowed them to still reach the city. My base was invaded two days ago and suffered immense causalities. If any of you – ahem – saw the survivors arriving last night that was what was left from my fort. Only twenty-two civs and solidiers survived, taken away from thousands."

A few people gasped, the audience was starting to get chatty.

The lieutenant joined in, "We understand the zombies are migrating, but we're not sure why. We are their learning the patterns they take in order to reach their…ahem, _food supply._ Our scientists in the main base, Sector 113, have discussed ideas around and thought they may work similar to bees, as in, they work like a hive mind. Something is controlling them to migrate. But this is still pure speculation. Regardless, we believe that they will reach Saipan City sometime tonight or tomorrow morning. We believe they will go through the city and continue south. This means we will start an immediate evacuation of all civilians in our base, as well as locations of known survivors around the nearby 50 kilometre radius."

The lieutenant turned the projector onto a various maps of japan. He shined a laser pointer on a maps of the city and one of our prefecture. "We have contacted the quarantine centre in the neighbouring city of Fuchu. We plan to leave before 1800 hours tonight. It is expected that we will arrive in the early hours of tomorrow morning. General Jayson Silver, the city's quarantine shelter's manager, has advised that there will be enough space for us. However it will likely be crowded."

 _Jayson Silver? Is he a foreigner? Ah, I get it, the U.N. has sent in troops to Japan._

The lieutenant went through a highly detailed plan on orchestrating this urgent and sudden evacuation. While everyone was on edge, he seemed to have kept cool as if we had weeks to plan for this. Most of us knew though that the army would have had a pre-packaged escape plan at the ready for a large, unstoppable horde of one thing or another.

"…Now remember, the first phase of the evac will commence immediately. We expect that by making the civilians aware of the situation, there will be a panic. We must ensure we instore order. We must protect our most viable sources. All right, everyone, take a deep breathe…"

We did so, and exhaled.

"And exhale. I'm aware many of you are volunteers and, in my many years of experience, though I can't say I haven't lived through an invasion such as this, I've dealt with disease outbreaks, invading armies, terrorism, and the like. We can, and will, get through this. We must work according to the plan, and always keep on edge. Now. Move out!"

We went outside and met each of our captains. Captain Cantarkus told a group (Rito and myself included) to head to the armoury to grab our firearms. Then hit the bike shed. We were each given locations to go to with known survivors and warn them about the oncoming onslaught. We were told to spread out in pairs due to our limited numbers. I immediately jump over to Rito's side. It appeared as if he was going to do the same for me. I just reached him first.

We rushed towards the armoury. The civilians were all gather in a main atrium area. I ran up beside Rito and whispered to him, "What you said last night. Do you want to go back home?"

He leaned over, "When all hell breaks loose, which we both know it will. We will gather some arms and head to the bikes."

"Oi!" A voice popped up behind us, something poked me in the back hard. It was Mikado and a long, thin finger, "If you're up to something, keep quiet, you're in the middle of a crowd for god's sake!"

"Sorry" We both said

"I think we should do the job first, get it over and done with quickly, and then go home" I say

"I think that's for the best, we can go to whoever's house is closer" he replies.

I nodded. But before I could say anything else, I could hear the cries of the civilian audience from behind. It was at this point we all charged to the armoury. Soldiers had wooden boxes stacked in front of the door and were standing on top, a man with a loudspeaker called out the names of stations to give them the needed amount of guns. However, after realising the civilians would become a frenzied horde, the soldiers started throwing cases of weapons out to the crowd. Sure enough, many civilians charged towards the armoury.

"Oh God" I said

The civilians and the army broke out into a huge bare-knuckled brawl.

"Whoa, sweet sword!" I hear a voice exclaim

Rito hears this voice as well and the pupils in his eyes contract, "Hey! That's my sword! Give it back!"

The man, a puffed out bald guy stares at him. He grasps Rito's treasured sword, ready to kill him. Rito readies his fists. Before the man has a chance to pull the sword into a fighting position, Rito's already delivered a hard punch to his face. He grabs the sword back, but finds two pairs of fist's landing on him. He crumples to the ground. It was the bloodied man's friend, a hulking bodybuilder. Unlike the bald man, this bodybuilder looked like a challenge to beat. If this man took Rito's sword in the first place, I don't think there would be a fight, I think Rito would have let him take it.

I take on the big guy instead.

"Ultimate Tsundere Punch!" I screamed, jumped in the air and fisted his head.

I land on the ground, he stops hitting Rito. He turns to me.

"I ain't 'fraid of hurtin' no girly" he says in the most hillybilly-ish voice I've ever heard.

 _This…was a bad idea._

He grabs me by my neck in one huge hand and whacks me across the face in the other. He chokes the life out of me and beats my head. I kick his body but it does nothing. Even in the scrot! Its like he was castrated or something! He gives a sick sense of self-satisfaction while torturing me.

I hear Rito call out, "Don't you dare-!"

He jumped up and punched the guy in the head. It did nothing. The man simply laughed, he was like the terminator or something. Unstoppable. Rito leapt around and tried to pull his hands away from me. The man slipped and we all fell to the ground. The man jumped to his feet and started kicking us. Rito was there, in front of me, shielding me and taking on the blows. _Why Rito? Why are you getting hurt for my sake?_

"Why are you hitting us?" I finally yell

Some young guys came to Rito and tried to pull him away. This was total chaos! I pulled out my belt and whipped the guys. One of them punched me in the neck and pushed me over. The hulk tried to crush my chest under his giant boot.

I heard Rito calling out my name as he was dragged away into some other fight.

 _Everyone's fighting, I must fight back otherwise this guy will turn me into a Yui Sandwich!_

I remember watching Mexican wrestling with my brother back before the world ended. One move the little guys would try to do was to flip their opponent over by grappling onto their leg, after being crushed under it. I replicated this move as best as I could. I grabbed his boot and wrapped my feet around his thigh. He lifted his leg and myself up. I used my body to weigh down on one side. He trembled. It worked! I was set free! The man only skipped to the side for a bit but I was now on my feet.

I saw Rito's sword lying on the ground. I looked at the man, he looked at me. We looked at the sword.

We charged.

As a tiny Japanese girl, I realise that partaking in a leaping contest with a giant was a terrible idea. He grabbed the sword and pointed straight at me. It looks tiny in his hands; like a giant butter knife.

He flashes me a cruel smile, "Prepare to meet your mommy and daddy, girly!"

I hear the sound of metal scraping against each other, a sharp object slashes through the air. The incredible hulk's smile is short lived and he falls to the ground screaming. Blood starts pooling from the back of his legs.

I sought for my saviour. It was none other than Yami. Using her genetically advanced capabilities, she turned her hair into a thick blade and slashed at the cunt's legs.

The man kept on screaming. Yami shut him up by stepping on his head, giving him a traditional, school yard special: The Dirt Sandwich Surprise. Now he just screamed into the soft dirt ground.

"Please do not attack my allies" Yami said in her typical Rey Ayanami-styled voice.

But with such a lack of emotion in her voice, she only seemed more eerie.

"Yami -" I try to speak but I choke. My throat feels like it's on fire. _Strangulation will do that to you, Yui._

"Thank…You", is all I'm able to muster out.

She nods and helps Rito up from a literal pile of beaten baddies. It was almost cartoony the way the were positioned on top of each other. I was fine to walk so I slung my friend's arm around my shoulder.

Gunshots tore through the air and echoed throughout the fort. The crowd screamed and dispersed. Lines of soldiers rolled up behind the civs, arms loaded and ready to burst. The majority of the crowd dropped their guns, but some still wanted to play rebel. These civs pointed their guns at the other soldiers.

It was an old fashioned Mexican standoff.

Yami was quick to intervene, a civ saw her coming and turned around, his shotgun pointing at her head. Yami was already on his case. Her hair rolled into a giant fist and punched the gun upwards, letting out a horrifying bang.

The man squealed. Yami's hair fashioned themselves into blades, forming real metal edges at the tip. They slid up to his face, pressing on the skin without piercing it. Or at least, _not deep enough to kill him_. The man fells to his knees in shock. It was evident that he crapped his pants.

 _That's disgusting_ I thought, from the look on Yami's face, she probably thought so too. Then again, who knows what she's ever thinking about?

The civilians stared at the guns, then to Yami, then back at their guns. They dropped them and threw their hands up in surrender.

"What the hell… _is that thing!_ " one civilian cried

Yami just stared at the crowd for a moment and then spoke at her normal, conversational tone of voice, "My name is Yami Lunatique, I am an alien. You will all disperse and return to the busses that will escort you to our destination"

A baby cried somewhere. The civilians back away.

 _Jesus, who the hell would bring a child to this fight?_ I thought

The crowd silently left, only a few mumbles and grunts at the security as they lead them away. The whole area was quiet now.

"Thanks Miss Yami!" one of the rooftop soldiers called out.

She looked at him and nodded in return.

She turned to us and asked, "Where are you both going?"

Rito looked at me, "We need to…go into the city the notify the bunked up survivors about the invasion"

I understood what Rito was trying to get at, if he straight up told the whole truth Yami may have alerted Tearju and our plan may have failed. There's no doubt if she found out, she might try to stop us.

"Ok, is my mother joining you?" she said

"Not as far as I know"

"Mmm, then I will tend to her then. I must ensure her safety."

"Do you know where you're going?" I asked

"I am going to assist her and nurse Mikado with the safe transportation of the mental care patients" She looks at Rito blankly, "That includes princess Momo".

Rito just nodded, "Please take care of her, the last thing anyone needs is for her to freak out and endanger anyone".

"She will be safe, I assure you" she replied.

I felt an oddly tense atmosphere between the two. If it were not for Yami's 24/7 dead-eyed look, I might've understood why Yami was staring into Rito's eyes like that.

A moment passed.

"Well I'll guess we'll get going then" I say

"Mmm, see you" says Yami

We grabbed out weapons are sprinted off towards the bikes.


	5. CH 04: Kill the Night Part 1

Chapter Three: Kill the Night Part 1: Fate of the Family

 **A/N: *** ** _insert authors note here_** *****

Driving through the city we saw more survivors hurrying in the direction of the fort. They would have come on their own accord, learning about the incoming attack via AM radio transmit, phone or by internet. Our job was to reach our list of places with known survivors and ensure they had left. You would wonder why the hell people are still living in the city, well there a few possible reasons for that. Some people didn't trust the army, which I thought to be dumbfounded thinking. Also some people didn't believe it was safe to venture out into the city to reach the fort. Anything could happen in the kilometres or even metres it takes to get the base. Some were without power or communication, hidden away from scavengers and hadn't receive contact from the army yet. With the incoming horde, trying to find people became a delicate and complicated job.

While we were searching for the groups already found, we could hear sirens in the distance. These were soldiers in ambulances hooking up there sirens to the speakers and blaring out messages about the fort. The sirens went off several kilometres away from our teams as these sirens would surely attract the dead.

Throughout the CBD were the odd zombie. Once, these were businessmen and women, wandering aimlessly 9 – 5. Now they're undead, hungry for flesh and wandering aimlessly (the only difference being the businesspeople had a job). We killed the few we could reach easily. Normally we would've spent more time killing all we saw, but we had no time. Besides, only a few wanderers, this meant they wouldn't haven't been much of a threat in the first place. We were advised to avoid attracting swarms if we encountered them.

The first few houses were empty as the survivors had already left. We found a group of elderlies and a young couple who needed help getting back. I presumed they were from an old folks home, but they were all shacked up in an apartment building, perhaps the young couple took the elderly back to their home? Whatever. Nonetheless, seeing as we were running short on time and lacked the transport to take them back, we killed them instead.

Okay, just kidding.

We called the fort for transport.

Our next location was a gang of youths who their eldest member had passed the night from a fatal case of becoming a zombie. Obviously, without any guidance or sense amongst the lot, they tried to act tough. After finding out about their leaders death, Rito instantly called up transport.

"Yo gurl, why don'tcha lose the zero and get wit' the heroes?" some kid says

"Uh…what happened to the older guy, the dude with the hat?" Rito asked

Now for the sake of keeping this zombie flick still suitable for children, I will tell you a more…polite adaption of what the kid next said: "That's what you get when you try to make a _…beautiful..[err]…corpse…[uhh jeez]…fellate_ you _"._

"Ugh! That's sick!" Rito exclaimed

"Riiiito!" I moaned, "Why are we even here?"

"Forget it, Yui, we'll let them take on the horde themselves"

It was now the transport van arrived. Then, us going against fourteen-year-old logic, they threatened to rob us, not kill or attack us, but rob us, with knives.

"Oh no!" Rito squeeled in a faux-worrying tone, "Small knives! My one weakness!"

Rito held up his gun to the smartass kid's forehead, "Try me bitch" he said.

For once, I've never seen Rito so terrifyingly threatening…or manly…GAH! _What am I saying?!_

 _N-n-nevermind! M-Moving on!_

Before anything could happen between the two, I gave him a kick to the stomach. He crumbled to the ground. Rito slipped away his gun as the swat van arrived.

After that was over there was one house left. While we were riding, we notice the street that blew up was now an empty crater, still smoking somewhat. How much time had passed since that whole incident happened? _Only a day. Less than 24 hours?_

The last house had two families, they were nice enough. Understood what was going on, but they foolish thought the radio transmission was all some big joke. To be fair, I would've thought likewise. After seeing more survivors driving down the highway, they believed us to be telling the truth, thanked us and left. It was a relief, no mess, no fuss, a clean GTFO and move on.

That was the last house on our list, we a few K's away from the house I've been waiting for weeks to go to.

Mine.

My house was located in a 'Void Zone'. That's an area yet to be explored, and deemed safe by the military.

We stared at my apartment block silently, I think Rito was waiting for me to act. I couldn't just stop looking at it though. I never lived anywhere else. This was the place I grew up in.

"What time is it?" asked Rito

I stared at my Minnie Mouse watch and reply, "20 past 1"

"Cool" he replied.

A breeze blew from the west. The streets were silent. All that stood before me was my home, nothing else. I walked over to the doors. They were locked.

"Oh" Rito said, "Lemme see, I think I have a lockpick packed around some-"

I smashed the glass door down in one hard kick.

"…Or that works" he said

My boots and leather pants shield my legs from any impact. These clothes have been surprisingly useful. Though as unfashionable as leather pants are, I'm still pleased with their durability.

Inside I can see some of the doors were at one point boarded up, but now these industrial metal sheets and wooden tables are now broken and splintered. They lead to darkened, windowless rooms, exuberating ominousness.

I was starting to feel that this was a terrible plan.

A very, very, terrible plan.

The fact the whole area was dead silent; no people, no zombies, no wildlife, not even the cries of the cicadas creaked through the halls. This emptiness all made it seem more and more like the set of a bad horror flick.

 _Hell, the past few weeks of my life has literally been a horror story._

Nonetheless, I ready my 'flashlight' (my flashlight app on my phone), and my gun and walk inside.

"Wait" Rito says, "We need to make sure no humans are hiding. They could think we're looters or something"

"Right on" I replied and started flicking through programs on my phone.

"H-Hello? Is anyone there? We're from the military and-"

" _Tooooniiight I'm gonna have myself, a real good time!_ " music plays from my phone.

"They should hear this" I say, "Also any of those freaks if there here"

We wait for a minute but nothing happens. The zombies, though can talk, aren't all that intelligent. They're attracted to sound more than smell or by vision.

"Ok, lets roll" I said

"Cool. What's that, an English song?" he asks.

"It's 'Don't stop me' by Queen, they're American"

"Oh, Freddie Mercury is in that band, I really like him, but I haven't heard anything from him recently, what happened to him?"

I stop and cringe, "Uh…"

"Oh, I guess someone did stop him after all!" he laughs

"Actually he's dead. He died from AIDS."

His face went blank, kinda shaking a bit, "Oh…sorry" he looks away, "L-lets…lets go".

 _I think I should also mention Rito's pronunciation of Freddie Mercury as "Fa-weddy Mackerel-rii" was pretty damn funny. Especially for someone who says their English is "Em-Peak-Able"._

We reached the main area of the building, we were flashing our smartphones into the open rooms as we past them. No bodies nor blood. Somehow I found this more alarming then I would have seeing anything worse.

Converted from a hotel back in the 70's, the apartments were aligned along the walls of the building. The roof was made of glass, though, tinted with grime. It allowed sunlight to pour in a green haze. In the middle was once a restaurant. Now it was a wall of BBQs with a considerably large pool. The apartments went up for ten stories and stylish frosted glass lined the metal railings.

Freddie's singing echoed throughout the apartment block.

I can see my apartment. The door isn't open. Maybe that's a sign. I can't see anyone in this block at all.

"Mum…Dad?" I call out, my echoes returned to me unanswered, "Oh god…"

Rito puts a warm hand on my back, "They might still be up there" he says

I tried to reply, "uh…yeah, yeah, maybe the door is just shut, maybe…hiding themselves…or…"

I'm trying not to well up, I think I started to realise the utter hopelessness of the situation. If these borders were broken and this place was empty, it was obvious my family could very well be…

Well. We moved on anyway.

Since none of the lights in the building were turned on, not even the emergency exit light, we both knew the elevators would be dead. So we tried to appreciate the free cardio and took the fire exit. Besides, we wouldn't want to be in an elevator if it malfunctioned and stopped, right as the horde invaded the city.

The emergency staircase hadn't been boarded up. A potentially bad sign.

"How far up?" Rito asked

"Eighth floor" I replied

"Shit. More cardio."

I let out a chuckle, covering up a cry of fear. No matter how horrendous things can be, Rito's always there to say something so stupid it'll give me the giggles.

We ran up the stairs, destruction laid about on many of these floors. I almost lost all edge when I saw a trail of gore blanket the sixth floor, starting in room 6003 and heading into room 6006. I don't know what happened there, I didn't want to know and frankly, I didn't care, I just wanted to get to my room. To my family.

 _"I'm gonna have a real good tiiiime"_ Freddie's voice rang out.

The seventh floor was a vasovagal response's nightmare. Windows were cracked or shattered, the stylish frosted glass railing were dressed in blood and body. This could have been a whole family that died, but I only found one body right at the entrance of the stairs. It was a woman.

I froze. Was this my…mum?

Rito readied his gun, I slowly turned the body over. The face was still intact. It was a middle aged woman, he eyes were bloodshot. He cheeks were stained with mascara, she cried before she died. The body was bloated and stunk. She was dead for days.

This poor woman…was not my mum.

"Sorry, you're not who I thought you were" I mumble and close her eyelids.

She died in pure terror. I personally think that's the worse way to die, knowing your fate, dying in hopeless agony. Fuck.

As we start to walk up the stairs, I notice her eyes open. At first I freaked out, but then I realised she probably wasn't a zombie. I think it was just an effect of how she was placed, along with her puffed up face, making her eyes seem like they opened.

I realised that I really, really, do not want to die. Yet, there was no turning back now. I had to find out what happened. Now.

We reached the eighth floor. The door to my house was shut but not locked.

We stopped.

"H-hey Rito"

"Yeah?"

"P-promise me something, will you? It will sound weird"

Rito really just wanted to leave. I could tell from that urgent look on his face. He nodded.

"If…if I die here…or anywhere that is, please take me back to civilisation. I don't want to be left in the city…y'know…to rot." I continue

The expression on his face hardened.

"Yes…of course…I, uh…I won't let you die here, of course" he replies

I nodded slowly.

"Same with me, don't leave me here either…actually. No, only do it if it's safe. If I die, I don't want you to die either. I want you to live on"

"S-same here, maybe, I…I-" I reply.

We pause for a moment and gaze into each other's eyes. We were really just kids trying to play heroes.

"Come here" he says and embraces me in a tight warm hug. I squeeze back.

I almost felt the urge to say something insane like 'I love you', in fact, I might have mumbled it into his chest. GAH! WHY WOULD I SAY THAT? AAH! THAT'S SO EMBARASSING!

I sniffled. Took a deep breath and nodded once more.

"Let's go" I said

We opened the door slowly. Some of the apartments had crackled glass, but there was no sight of blood. I kept telling myself that this was a good thing. I ran up to my apartment, 8005. The windows were untouched, the door wasn't broken. Everything was intact as if nothing had changed. It almost looked clean. The door was locked, I lost my keys back at the school when shit hit the fan.

At my feet was the welcome mat (bought by my brother, and to the irritancy of my parents, and to the delight of mine, said "Sup' Bitches"). I was surprised to see it still here. _Not that I'd expect anyone to start stealing doormats in the apocalypse_. Underneath it was a key stitched into the mat. An old cliché to hide your key sure, but I hadn't see any robberies here.

I opened the door. Stepped inside.

The golden haze of the afternoon sun seemed through the window like a warm greeting. I heard the sizzle of a frypan from the kitchen to my left.

"Oh hello Yui" said my mum.

She looked perfectly healthy and fine, she was watching TV.

Mum was still here. She was alive, and fine.

I ran up to her and hugged her.

"Oh, you're happy to see me. Tough day at school dear?"

I brushed down my school uniform and collapsed into one of the chairs at the kitchen table.

"Yeah it was a nightmare. The committee has found so many issues with the school since our last ethics review…and the sandwich you made me…"

"What happened to the sandwich?"

"uhh…nevermind"

My dad walked out, he was still dressed up from work.

"Hey dad"

"Hey Yui-pop" he greeted me.

My dad set down at the table at the front of our apartment.

"Coffee? Tea?" My mum offered, she smirked and winked at my father, "or would you prefer me-"

"Don't say it" I groaned.

They laughed, yeah, they always liked to stir me up like this.

"Say, where's Yuu? Is he back home yet?" I asked

"Well no actually…" it seemed like my father was about to say something but stopped himself.

"Yui" a voice came from behind me

It was Rito. He wasn't in his school uniform though, he was wearing weird gear, like he was ready to go to a Mad Max marathon or something.

"Yui" his voice trembled with thick fear, "What are you doing" his voice became a desperate whisper.

I just laughed, "Rito? Whats up? Why are you here? Either way. Please, come in, this is my mum and dad"

Mum and dad greet him with a nod. Rito ignores them completely. _How rude!_

"Rito don't be so-"

"No, Yui, get back here now" he commanded, he was frantic

"Here's the thing Yui-pop…" dad says, "Well, you need to go with your friend"

My smile dropped, "What?"

My mother joined him, "You see darling...well…what you see here, us, we're not real. We are actually in front of you, but we are dead."

I laughed, "Hah, very funny. I must've told you about that crazy dream I had. Y'know, about the zombies, and everyone in my school died and I lived with Rito in…"

"Honey, please understand, right now you're in shock. You are imagining all of this. We're just your imagination trying to save you" said dad in a most disturbingly cheery voice, it was as if 'Happy' was his one emotion.

I stared at them and jumped from my chair, "Stop playing games!" I yelled

"One part of your brain is trying to protect you while another wants to calm you down, otherwise you might even die of shock. After all, you probably knew more about medicine than I ever did. Not that you ever studied it much and, oh well, I'm trailing off again" said my mum, equally cheerful and equally creepy.

"Yui, theres a photo of the family right beside you. The frames cracked but the photo's still alright. Please take that with you if you like, to remember us by" said dad.

"What?" my voice was just a soft a whisper

"Find Yuu, and be nice to that Rito boy, I remember you saying nasty things about him back in highschool. But seeing him now, he seems like a caring boy." Mum continued

"Mum, I don't even…"

"We love you" the two said.

Bang!

A flash, like a hot stream of blood to the brain. Like a hard kick in the head I snapped back to reality. I was still wearing black shirt, boots and leather pants. The durable gear I hated so much. I looked to my side and sure enough was a photo on the chair. It was my family at Universal Studios in Tokyo. It was taken a year ago. Rito had his hand on my shoulder. I looked at him, he held up something in his hand.

A grenade.

He had the pin pulled out and was holding onto the lever. Once he let go my whole house goes kaboom.

Slowly, I turned to my parents. The chair I was sitting on was intact, the chair next to me was too. The other two weren't. The table wasn't either. Nor was the couches. One was upturned, the other half hanging out of the balcony door. In the middle was a zombie feeding on a body.

 _"Oh my…oh…oh…god…no…"_

It was mum. Snacking on dad's jugular. Tears had ran down my dad's cheeks, but he was long gone. Bloated, like that woman downstairs.

Behind them were ample amounts of zombies, my neighbours. Old Man Goho was climbing in the balcony. The Takadas were crawling and limping through the hallway and little Suzi was digging her deformed feet, now talons, into the roof.

My eyes widened.

"Aah...aaah!" I began to scream

Every zombie turned to me. Then grinned. Mum flicked out her demonic large tongue. Little tentacles protruded from my dad neck from the mothers tongue. She stretched them out. Flies poured out of her mouth and head.

Rito grabbed me by the waist and lifted me up on his shoulder.

Time went slow. I looked back, the zombies ran towards us. Rito charged out the door, more zombies filled the hallways. Black dead eyes stare, hungry for flesh, devoid of humanity, these were truly monsters. I looked back into the apartment and one last glimpse of my family. My parents, dressed in that gorgeous Hollywood sunset haze. They waved. Waving goodbye to me, waving goodbye to the old Yui Kotegawa. Waving goodbye to the old life. That innocent life.

Rito lept us onto the railing and jumped off. We fell. Life was even slower than before. Moments of my life flashed. As a child, my parents taking care of me. Christmas. Halloween. Small moments, like getting fast food on a rainy night. Watching some stupid variety show on TV. Walking in on my parents late at night, sleeping on the couch, mum cradled in my dad's arms.

There were not enough swear words that could leave such an emotional impact that would accommodate for the pain I felt right now. All I could think was, _God. Fucking. Damnit._

The grenade went off. The apartment - everything from the life that once was - erased in a fiery explosion. The railings from the wall of apartments shattered. Glass reflected the sun reflecting the glass roof. Shards of lethal glass twinkled like the night stars. I felt heat, this wasn't loving and warm. It was bitter and cruel. I felt misery. I felt hatred.

We fell forever. We fell into the abyss. That old cliché. Was this death?

My whisper.

"Mum"

"Dad"

I felt water elapse around my skin, cool my face and drown my lungs.

"No!" I screamed.

Now I entered the void…


	6. CH 05: Kill the Night Part 2

**A/N: I've been writing this crap for almost three years now. What have I done with my life!? In other news, Toloveru is finally being licenced and released by Madman Entertainment, which caused me to cheer loud enough to wake up my whole family. Soz mum and dad.**

 **Shameless self-promotion – Tumblr:**

 **.**

We reached the eighth floor. Yui ran ahead to some apartment. As I'm about to leap into action I notice something staring back at me from the top floor.

"Oh fuck".

I walked down the hallway backwards, my eyes still fixated on it. Staring back at me.

I hear a voice from inside the apartment. It was Yui's, "…Yeah it was a nightmare. The committee has found so many issues with the school since our last ethics review." She spoke casually, as if everything was fine. It didn't make any sense. I would've expected some emotional cry, but she sounded like she was continuing a conversation. Needless to say, this shit was royally weird.

I moved toward the door. Around her was a dilapidated apartment, no different than any other. Glass windows smashed inside, busted sheets of metal. And in the middle of the kitchen was Yui, she's sitting at a table, talking cheerfully to no one. No, that wasn't right, she was talking to someone.

"Oh double fuck"

A snarl from behind. The monsters were approaching. Several of those bastards were trapping us from the other side of the hallway.

"Say, where's Yuu? Is he back home yet?" said Yui

I turn inside the apartment, "…oh…triple…fuck".

Yui was talking to herself, in front of a zombie eating another man. I noticed a picture frame, miraculously unbroken on the chair next to her. It was Yui with two men and a woman.

This was obviously her family, in fact, the older man looked like the…and the older woman… Oh no.

Oh god no.

I noticed my voice started to break a tremble, "Yui, what are you doing?"

She turned to me, "Rito? Whats up? Why are you here? Either way, please, come in, this is my mum and dad." She points forwards, I had no idea what was going on, but it kinda looked like she was pointing to zombie and her prey.

"Rito don't be so-"

"No, Yui, get back here now" I whispered, making whatever urgent gestures I could pull.

She paused for no reason, then her voice grew grim, "What?"

Another pause.

"Hah, good one. I must've told you about that crazy dream I had. Y'know, about the zombies, and everyone in my school died and I lived with Rito in…Stop playing games! ...What?" She changed her tone of voice between content, to rage to engrossed shock. This was her having a psychotic breakdown. In the heat of the moment, it only disgusted me how I lacked any empathy for her in this situation. I grumbled in my head how annoying this was to happen in a time and place like this. She stopped talking, there was a long pause before she looked around the room. She must've snapped out of it. She looked back towards me and my emotionless face. I made the horrible mistake of glancing back at the zombies. She followed my eyes.

"Aah...aaah!" She jumped up and shrieked, knocking the chair over.

She brought the photo next to her close. By now the zombies were behind us had reached the door. I readied my shotgun, I was going to blast all of these fuckers in one clean blow. Yui's mother had now noticed us, gleaming at us with her newly deformed face. She looked less human and now more like a demon. Hordes of flies dripped from her nostrils and her tongue, thick and fat, forked and elongated, flicked in my direction. Hungry for a fresh meal. Hot blood. Meanwhile, the creeps sneaked out from the hallways like cockroaches. This was a trap. I never realised that these beasts could pull something like that. It was clear to me that the zombies my world was dealing with was unlike any Movie, TV or poorly written fanfiction could ever think up!

"Fuck it" I aim my gun at the door.

These monsters are staring right at me, all bunched up, three stooges style. Good. I fired the gun and the zombies explode into a red haze, for a moment I feel like Django Unchained until I realised that the gun had recoiled back into my stomach. I crumbled to the floor out of breath. More zombies had taken up their place. I look at the zombies behind, there's so many of them there's no point of trying to escape that way. I pulled off a grenade from my belt, taking the ever-careful precaution of not letting the pin release by accident. I used a chair to prop myself up. I didn't really know how this grenade worked since the army never trained me. I just happen to sneak it off the big guy we fought earlier today. I had little time to think. I knew there was a pool at the bottom of this place, I wasn't sure how deep it was but it could probably break our fall if we were to jump off. The choices were to either die instantly from the height, or painfully by the monsters. Scratch that. There was only one choice.

I tried to remember how they set off grenades in Call of Duty and action movies. I pulled out the pin and held onto the little metal bar. Yui was just a stupefied wreck, so I pulled her over my shoulder. She didn't make a sound, she just kept that glassy-eyed expression on her face. The zombies started to make a move, so I charged out the apartment and tossed the grenade over my other, girl-less shoulder. Yui was heavy, but my desperation and fear fuelled my energy. I ran out the door and jumped onto the railing. The zombies were an inch away. We leapt off.

It was at that moment I had realised…

…I fucked up.

We fell for what seemed like an eternity, yet I knew it was only a few seconds. The grenade blew up, sending shockwaves riveting around the building. It shattered all the glass railings and the sunroof.

I saw the pool and held Yui tight. But as we came near it, I had to let go. I hit the water hard, my knees, pointing downwards, hit the tiled bottom first.

My world envelops into black nothingness, a suffocating void. All I hear is water bubbling. Then…

Nothing.

…

I don't know where I was but I felt oddly safe. My body felt like it was rushing through waves in the ocean. I only see tiles, floor tiles, lights illuminate at each side of my vision. Soon, I gain control of my body with a sudden jolt akin to a volt of electricity shooting through my nerves. I am in some sort of strange celestial train station. This other worldly place has platforms like in train stations, one end going nowhere the other went up a staircase. But the world is consumed by darkness. There are no tracks. I peek over the ledge and I see my reflection in the water. Its illuminated by hazy golden glazed gas lamps. More lampposts glow over the black sea, set out in endless rows.

I ascend the stairs and push past thick red curtains to find myself in a hallway. The entire hallway is dressed in thick lavish curtains, like some seedy brothel, or like a red womb. This floor is unlike the grey-tan granite tiles from the station before. These are those plastic coated floor patterns stretched out in a zig-zagging black and white design. The kind of design you'd see in a 1950's American Diner. A nameless roman statue is placed where I first came in. A breeze wofts gently through the curtains on all sides. I feel my feet moving on their own. I look down to see myself dressed in an expensive business suit. The strumming of a guitar echos throughout the halls, I have no idea where it's coming from. Walking along this zig-zag path makes me disorientated. A saxophone looms everywhere and nowhere, all at the same time.

I enter the next room at the end of the hallway. It's big, still dressed in these red curtains. I look down. Right before me is Momo, she seems smaller than before. No, that not right, she is the same height, yet my brain tries to tell me she miniscule. I reflect off her glassy, moonlight eyes. She's wearing a ruffled pressed red suit. She rubs her hands together, like she's scrubbing a memory away. She turns around. Her eyes are made of glass. She says to me, "! d".

I'm not sitting down on a black leather couch, Lala is. I am sitting on a black leather single seater. Lala is wearing a black business suit and has the same glass eyes. She smiles thinly and utters, "Reve retirw tsetuc eht si waL retsiM oslA .gnola lla gnihT eht saw goD eht dna erodelbmuD sllik epanS ,dels eht saw dubesoR ,oslA .kcab siht etalsnart ot sdnah ruoy no emit fo tol a evah tsum uoY .gnola lla daed erew stnerap s'iuY"

She points with her middle finger and index to the floor. It sounds like a card has been dealt, but there's no card. _Whatsup with that?_ Her fingers rotate to the roof. I see myself and Yui under a blue haze, bodies lying stagmate. It looks like we're floating in a lifeless body of water.

I try to speak, all that comes out is, "I miss you Lala, I am so sorry. So, so, so very sorry"

She smiles and laughs. The laugh grows and grows, tears fall down her face and she becomes hysterical. She chokes on her laugh and freezes in suspended animation. Her face looks towards the stars.

"aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" a voice emits from her throat, like a scream and gasp.

She returns to normal. She flips both of her hands to her right side. Wrists touching and both palms outstretched, one horizontal and the other vertical. Her face grows serious. "Ah-meanwhile" she speaks in an disembodied lights dim and brighten at an alarming pace. _where are these lights?_ In the darkness I hear her scream endlessly. In the light her skin is peeling off and her tongue grows a foot long, flickering around like a spastic tentacle. In the darkness I see the face of a man. Its Gruello, grinning. In the light her brains are dripping out of her shattered skull.

We are the only people in the room, no Grulleo and no Momo. Lala lunges towards me. I bolt out the room and back down the hall. I hear Lala's screams echo through the wombs and inside my brain. She is everywhere. I fall down the staircase.

That's where I wake up…

Yui grabs a hold of me and brings us to the surface. I remember being amazed at her sudden found strength. Yui swims over to a ledge and hops out, I collapse halfway through the climb and vomiting out garbage. Zombie roars becomes ever clearer. A zombie hits ground hard. Shattering on instant, its remains look like a giant mashed tomato. It jumped off the railing and missed the pool. Another one came falling too, though it missed the pool too, it was impaled on the pool fence.

More roars and horrendous thuds. Zombies are falling from above. They slammed onto the ground into gory messes. Zombies start running down the staircases and to reach us. I reach for my shotgun, which is on the first step of the pool. The metal barrels looks dented by otherwise fine. A young man starts gnawing his jaw as her crawls near me. I wait till several join him, I grin and pull the trigger.

It doesn't go off. _Of course!_ Then I remembered learning about how guns don't work in water as the gunpowder then becomes wet. _Of course this fucking piece of fucking shit cunt shit fuck doesn't work! Fuck!_

Yui rises to her feet, I notice she winces in pain.

"Graaa!" A zombie toppled over the gate and showed us famished eyes.

I have no time to think about the morals, I grasp the gun tightly and thwack it over the fuckers head. The zombie prick's head knocks about the ground. Yui dives into the pool and retrieves two weapons, my sword and her sickle. I grab the zombie's head and bash it into the ground continuously. More of the rotten bastards shake the fence. The decades old white painted fence starts to bend and bust. There's about twenty of these guys around us and growing.

The zombie's manages to scramble his feet. It tackles me to the ground. I close my eyes and slam a hand over my mouth and nose. Blood and slobber drips over my face. I can hear it's roaring, then it starts screaming, then nothing. Something heavy conks me on my forehead. I shift my head to the side and open my eyes.

I yell in shock. The zombie's gored out head is next to me. Its face is permanently stuck in a roaring pose. Its body falls on top of me. Standing defiantly above the monster is Yui, sickle in hand. She straightens up, shes wearing her aviator sunglasses. She looks...intense. Yet, amazing.

 _Oh I get it._ I thought, she had sliced off its head like a jabberwocky.

I push the body off me. Yui grabs the fucker's deadhead and pegs it back to its mates. The metal poles that bound the gate begin to bend off. A zombie crawls through the gate. Before it has time to move any closer, two poles are shoved through its eyes and another shove down its throat. It gags. The final pole lodges into its brain and cracks the tiling beneath it. Yui screams as she rips out a pole piercing its eye socket – tearing its head apart – and proceeding to stab another zombie in the face. This is all done by Yui, who in the span of seconds came from a shocked little girl to the bloody Terminator!

"Fuck it! Let's aim for bikes!" she helps me to my feet. Her voice seems to have gotten a bit deeper.

"Y-yeah" I reply, I gingerly ready my sword for the swarm. She saw this and frowned.

She grabs me by the hands and stares through my soul, "Listen Rito, we can have a good cry about my parents later. But right now we need to aim for the bikes and get to your place. Capesh? Also, would your grenades still work even though they've been in water?"

"I uhh, yeah, they should, the fuse is inside it so it covers the powder that sep-"

"Good, let's go"

I stood there, I think she was waiting for me to go.

"Honestly Rito, look around, there are two possible routes we can take; either we can die here and let them drink our blood, or we can stand up and spill theirs. I don't know about you but I'm taking the tougher route. And I might as well have a little fun doing it."

"I don't…what…there everywhere! Can we really take them on?"

"Oh dear Rito, please, have a little faith!"

I had never seen her so serious before. Normally she was tense but still squeamish, now it seem like she channelled the spirit of Red Sonja inside her.

"AIEEEEIEIEYA!" She screams out a Valkyrie's call, jumps and decapitates a zombie on her landing.

Actually, I think she channelled the spirit of Xena: Warrior Princess.

Yui just laughed, "Tell me Rito. Are you a man of god?"

"What…no? wh-"

"I am. In fact…" she said.

A bunched up group were trying to three-stooges their way through the gate. She jumped, launched her foot across their faces, and blew them off in one sweep.

"…I KICK ASS FOR THE LORD!"

 _She's gone insane._ More of the monsters stumbled or jogged into the room. All ready for us.

"Uhh…" I'm stuttering, I'm trying to find the right zombie to take on. Yui hops back next to me and whispers her plan. It's insane. It's literally insane. But, fuck it, its better than anything I could come with. I sheath my sword, as does Yui with her sickle rap on her back.

"Remember, straight through the doors and to the bikes."

"You really think I can pull this off?"

"Probably not but hey, let's give it the college try."

"F-f-fuckin' hell" I mutter

She holds my shoulders, gives them a tight squeeze as I bend into a runners position. A large zombie stumbled through the gates. Judging by the snake tattoo that spiralled down his face, and the crossed out "Misato" tattoo sprawled over his forehead (an ex-lover?), I had the feeling that this guy was still a pretty dodgy guy in his previous life. I grew tense, this was enough reason for me to attack him at full force.

"3" she says

"2" I say

"1" she whispers

"Go!" I scream

I jump, she grabs my feet and pushes me to send me flying higher. My body turns into a diving motion. I pull an MMA style "Superman Punch" and aim for the zombie's nose. My fingers are pointed like a spear. My fingertips make contact with the bridge of the zombie's nose. It pressed down and applies a greater pressure. I feel my fingers slide through his head and brain matter. I punch through his head and land on one knee. Yui's at my side and picks up the body by the shins. We bolt and pummelled down the rest of the monsters.

I've punched through a zombie's head, and now I'm using him as a battering ram!

Yui grabs my belt, it's a ring of grenades. She breaks the metal ring keeping one of them attached to my belt. We reach the hallway, zombies are jumping out only to hit the meat shield. I was surprised to see how easy some of these ghouls can be killed, I wasn't amused however, to find out that these bloated fatties weighed a ton.

"Adios Cunt-a-rinos!" she cheers and pulls the pin. She tosses it in the air behind us.

"Quick! Run! Run! Run! Run!" she screams and pushes me harder.

We reach the outside entrance of the building, a horde is about to enter. Yui grabs my shirt and pushes me even harder. We sprint faster than a Kenyan.

"Oh Shit!" I scream

We hit the horde and push hard. We use our momentum to get fully outside. Zombies fall down the steps. Yui helps with kicking the corpse off me. I throw the body into the crowd. For a few precious moments it halts the crowd. My hands are covered in thick black sludge and dark bile. I praised the Divine Mother of the Universe for blessing me with gloves and shirt sleeves long enough to fully cover my arms. This allowed me to punch through as many zombies as I felt like without easily contracting any disease.

We jump off the steps along the side of the building. The bikes are where we left them, just out the front and ignored by the monsters. One of them reaches out to Yui as she gets to her bike. She gets her sickle but the zombie digs its head at her. She yelps as the monster grabs her wrists and throws the sickle out of reach. I stand at the middle and kick the rotted ghoul in the chin. It does nothing. Yui falls to the ground. The zombies start running towards us.

I unsheathe my sword and grab the zombie from behind. I slice its neck back but the method barely works. This beast is stronger than the other monsters. Unlike the other zombies, who looked like people who were infected with the illness, this one looked like a rotted corpse that rose from its grave. Like a moving piece of dried bark. It reminded me of a monster from Lucio Falci's 'Zombi 2'. It lifted itself up slightly and flicked its whole body down, and I went with it! It threw me over, landing on my friend. She let out a cry of pain. I merely grunted. I shifted my body over Yui's face. One elbow was pushing into something large and soft. I think I was digging into her breasts by accident. I apoligized in my mind. The zombie brought its mouth to my neck, revealing grotesque, black ooze-dripping fangs. I used the sword again, I dug it into its jaw and pushed back. The stupid thing stabbed itself with my sword. I used my knee to kick in the sword. It was like trying to break a boulder with your hands, it was not going to happen. And it was near impossible to get my sword any further in its head. All the while Yui's moaning in pain.

Suddenly, the zombies inside the apartment block went quiet for a second.

Kaboom!

The earth shakes, the glass exterior of the building cracks and shatters. Fire blows out through the first floor and through the door. Glass windows shatter into billions of sharp pieces and crack on the ground. Any zombie that hadn't caught fire from the explosion fall to the hard ground and explode. Zombies from inside run around aimlessly on fire.

"Holy Fuck!" Yui screams.

It was over in seconds. Shrapnel fractures of glass land into the ghoul, finally stabbing it to death. I pushed it off and its head cracked into ash. I helped my friend off the floor. She was in a daze.

"Ohhh" she moaned, "Rito, I think you just destroyed my…chest"

"I'm sorry, anything I can do" I reply

"No, no, its fine. I'll get better. But fuck me, that was scary"

"Yep, it ain't over yet though"

"Right, lets just get the fuck out of here. Seriously Rito, fuck this shit. Fuck it up the asshole"

"Yeah, right in the crack"

We hop on our bikes and drive the hell away.

Our next destination. My house.

We drove away from the chaos in silence. Aside from a few hand gestures I made to Yui to lead her to the next destination, neither of us attempted to make conversation. We would soon reach the building Tearju was sniping in the yesterday. We took the outside emergency exit to the top. An empty litre water bottles, bullet casings and food rubbish laid out around the rooftop. Yui had brought her own sniper rifle with her. Yui was still wearing her motocycle helmet, I just figured it was to protect herself.

I started discussing our plan of attack, "-so if I climb up ontop of the doorway's roof, I think I might be able to have a good window to reach your house"

She climbed on the platform on top of the doorway. As the doorway led to stairs, the roof was a tight area. Only one person and a sniper could stay there. Even then, Yui's feet were hanging off the back.

"I can see your street, but your house is blocked by some other building" she spoke softly

The building was the Toyohoma finance centre. It was several streets from my house but was still tall enough to block the sun from my house for one part of the day. We would've tried to go to that roof, or any better one, but the urgency we faced obviously stopped any likelihood of that happening. And those zombies always took ages to clear out safely. So we had to make do with this.

I took Yui here because after what happened before I wasn't too sure that she would really be up to fighting again. Sniping might be a better for her.

We stood there for a long time in silence, just gazing at each other.

"Right, so. I guess you'll be off then" she says, looking away.

She's still wearing her helmet even though I took mine off a while back. "S...see ya, be careful" she replied

"Uh, so…I don't know what to say about….what happened…" I drift off

"So my parents…they're…really gone huh?"

I pause for a moment, "I…I'm so sorry Yui, I understand if you won't forgive-"

"You did what you had to do"

I stopped, "Yui…" I didn't know how to say it, so I said it off the cuff and blunt, "Yui, I killed your parents-"

"L-look here Rito!" She starts of yelling, but cuts herself off, "If there's one I want you to know…" she spoke between pauses, it was clear she was breathing heavily, "No matter…how sad, or angry…or violent I get…please...just remember what you did was not your fault. You saved my life, you were protecting yours. So…no matter what I say in the future…kill…killing….ENDING! …ending their lives….was not your fault. And, and, they were already gone. Because of the virus".

I gently took off her bike helmet. Her face had lost all colour, red circles under her eyes had formed and tears ran down her soft puffy cheeks. Her eyes a hazy sunset red. She began to shiver. Without thinking or asking, I wrapped my arms around her. She cries deep into my chest, her little hands balled into fists and resting on my shoulders. I find myself crying too.

We lose track of time. Maybe an hour had passed, half an hour? I did not know but I need to go.

The tears hadn't stopped, but her voice had died down. When I unstrained my arms, she practically melted to the ground.

"Come on, lets get you up" I say, holding her hands as I pull her to her feet.

"S-sorry" she says

"Don't be, come on, let's get you up there. Sorry I have to get you to do this."

"Its…okay. It's something you need to do".

She holds my hand tightly as we walk over to the platform.

"B-b-before you go…there's something I want to give to you" she looks away shyly

"Hmmm? Whats that?"

"C-c-c-close your eyes"

 _Uh oh._ I do so.

"J-j-just bend down a little"

I do so.

I feel something soft touch my cheek. I open my eyes, she's kissing me. I close my eyes again.

"That…" she starts, "Was just in case I never see you again"

She looks terrible, but still manages to pull a cute little smile. My heart flutters for a bit. I feel lighter. It's a weird feeling receiving affection like that, especially from this girl in particular with her tough personality.

"Well, if I never see you again, I want to do something before I go too" I say

She smile grows, abet not by much. She closes her eyes, turns her head and points to her cheek. I lean in close and return the favour.

"I have to go now. I'll be back as soon as possible" I say

I pull a packet of tissues from my coat, from my pocket and pass it to her. Which how it made it out dry with its cheap Chinese plastic wrapping, I have no idea how.

"Th-thank you" she says, drying her eyes.

I give her one last hug before saying our goodbyes and descended to the street. As I move it grows on me that her smile, the confirmation that she was okay, was clearly fake. She cares for me, and wants me to find my family. But she wasn't in a right state of mind. I let out grunts of frustration in bolt and leaps towards my motorbike. This whole situation is alien to me, I've never known how to deal with grief, and it can do nothing but sadden, confuse and rightfully piss me off.

The trip was lonely, in the cities silence it felt bigger, endless even. Infinite. On my journey I had to stop a few times to avoid the monsters. They were scattered around wandering the streets aimlessly. I found a neighbourhood block that was now a crater. A steaming whole in the ground. I strapped my goggles up tight and nuzzled my shirt over my mouth, trying to protect myself the best I could as I moved around the block. The road was still weak and cracked as I moved along it. Soon, I would pass and make my way up the road.

I turned off the main road and found my house. It was located in amongst the crisscross of houses assembled like some jarring maze. I noticed my house was shrouded in shade from the Toyohoma building. A golden haze of afternoon sun covered the start of the neighbourhood like a long rectangle, blocked out by the taller buildings in the distance.

The gate was open. Then I noticed something. It seems _too_ silent.

I drove my bike slowly around the street corner. Nope. Nothing there. But when I scaled the block, located in the other street, I saw something terrifying.

It was twenty of them. Aside from random twitches in their bodies, they were practically in suspended animation. I slowly pulled out my pistol from underneath the bike. The gun was small but small enough to properly hide underneath my seat. It was my backup gun for if my other weapons somehow died out. I wasn't sure what the gun nuts properly called it, but I had twelve bullets fit for this gun. I gazed behind me, another five of these things were about one hundred feet away from me. I stared at the two hordes, and slowly cocked the hammer. They gave no reaction. From the lack of sound of two pieces of metal hitting each other – the hammer and the bullet, I was reassured that there were no bullets inside it already. I opened the chamber. Metallic clinks came from within the gun with every bullet entering the chamber. They still didn't give a reaction. I shut the chamber. No reaction. I pointed the gun in the sky and pulled down the hammer.

Now they moved. "Oh fuck" I muttered.

 _I knew it! This was a trap. But how?_

I sped up my bike around. The zombies behind me were about to jump me. I speed forward, twisted it around and back down my street.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"

These guys were abnormally fast. An old man sprinted like a young gazelle and was touching my seat. I could imagine him readying to finger my butthole. He leapt, only to grab my back wheel and slicing his fingertips off. Whew! My butthole was safe. For now.

The rest of the horde ran over him, stomping him into a messy oblivion. I almost reached the golden haze of light – this was Yui's sniper zone. I had no idea if I could even trust she could shoot this far.

A zombie lauched himself onto the entire back wheel. The whole bike flipped over. I slid across the hard ground. I felt my skin rip and tear, but my injuries weren't as bad as the previous monster. It flipped over, fingers decimated and skull cracking hard on the road. I crawled into the heavenly orange light. My eyes were blinded by the sun. I moved aimlessly. I heard one of the monsters approaching. Snarling. Approaching ever so close.

THUD!

Something fell right next to me. There was no more snarling. _Was it Yui? It had to be!_

I could hear the echo of a gunshot far off in the distance. My eyesight returned quickly, though painfully. I flashed a thumbs up towards Yui's direction.

My celebration was short-lived however, a creature with blue dyed haired took me to the ground and chewed on my motorcycle helmet. All that would do it wear off the Skull design I painted on it. I took my gun and aimed at its temple. Nothing came out. The chamber was empty and there were no rounds in the gun!

 _Oh for fucks sake!_

I couldn't reach the bullets in my pocket. The zombie was on top of me. I pistol whipped the bitch until its brain splattered over my helmet. Luckily, none of its brain juices seeped through. I push the body off and get to my feet. I realised the target was too close to me for Yui to fire. I assumed she only could watch in horror. More came stumbling over. I found my rounds and kept firing at them. Meanwhile I heard the echoes of gunshots from Yui's building. Once every few minutes a creature would randomly explode. This was the power of Yui's bullets. Like bursting a balloon full of meat. Then there were ten left in the shadows. They stayed out of the haze. They must've learned not to cross the shade. I moved to the left, they followed. These guys were going to follow me wherever I went but they were not going into the line of sight. How they had the capacity to learn this tactic I had no idea. I shuffled through my pocket. No ammo left. Great. Just perfect. I had an idea. I picked up the bike, it was heavy but I could still pick it up off the ground. I rev up the wheels. I'm sure Yui would have no idea what I was planning to do. I stare at them, they stare at my bike.

Fuck It.

I rev up the bike, heave it up. Its surprisingly light. Then I run. I recalled back to a few minutes ago how one zombie could have its fingers sliced off by the back wheel. My plan was insane, but screw it. A young woman, with a long bloodied scarf went into the bike first. Her scarf ensnared into the back wheel. She was decapitated instantly. Her brains smashed, I was covered in her mulch. They came charging and each one entered the wheel-cum-circular saw. I was deep into the shade now. Rivers of dissected bodies pooled around my grimy boots. I circled behind them. I moved slowly and they found themselves in the sunlight.

One by one their bodies exploded, and it was glorious. I felt like the terminator with the brains of Joesph Joestar. I continued to walk slowly into the sunlight so that Yui could easily recognize me. This was just a precaution in case she accidently shot at me. They all fell down until there was only one was left. It stumbled over backwards. It held its hands up to shield it's face.

This was…strange. This was a zombie, it walked like a zombie, snarled like one. This was a stinking corpse too! But here it was, holding up its hands, knowing of its fate, and not wanting death. I put down the motorbike.

"H-hello?" I said

The skinless being just breathed heavily.

"Can you…understand me?"

It didn't say anything, but its eyes moved up to me.

"Can you talk? My name is Rito"

The zombie stared at me, its lips began to move, "Duun't-"

The zombie's head exploded in a torrent of bloody grey matter. Fuck.

"Wh…what….what was…damn, damn it Yui!" I yelled

I had no idea what was that before, maybe the zombie could talk. I guess I'll never know. Standing there in golden silence, I flicked a disappointed thumbs up in Yui's direction and cleaned the gunk out of my bike, otherwise the gore would clog the motors. I wheeled the bike down to my house. The house look untouched. I gently opened the gate and found the door unlocked. This was somewhat concerning. I needed to know what happened here.

"Well" I spoke to myself…

"Welcome Home, Rito Yuuki".


	7. CH 06: Kill the Night Part 3

Chapter Six :Kill the Night: Part III: Welcome Home, Yuuki Rito

 **A/N: Originally I was going to have a bunch of jokes here but that'll be at the end of this chapter. I would like to dedicate this chapter to the memory of Shelsea, she was a former schoolmate of mine who tragically passed away recently. It's been five or six years since we last met but I still feel for her and her family. Rest in Peace.**

 **I feel that most chapters now have a tribute to a person who had passed away, which is especially ill-fitting for a fan fiction so surrounded by death. But from my perspective, this is the best way to pay tribute to another life. Immortalized in writing on the internet, you may not know about these people, or care about them, but to me, these names will be remembered as markings online for as long as the sites I upload my stories to exists.**

 **I still believe in provide you with an entertaining story, so this chapter includes the usually brand of splatstick comedy horror that I always try to provide. I hope that you do not take offense to my content after reading my tribute. Thank you.**

The door was unlocked, open slightly ajar. It was obvious that someone had broken in. But judging by the vinyl player and the TV had not yet been stolen, it was possible that the house was affected by the initial meteor blast from twos ago. Glass scattered around the floor and the paintings were knocked over had only further proved my belief. But then my senses tensed – there were hands marks around the walls and small drips of blood laced around the hallway.

Great. Now I have a mystery. All I need now is a talking dog, a stoner and a lesbian.

Fred and Daphne can get fucked.

Virtually all the glass windows were shattered or at least fractured. The TV had been knocked over but not stolen. The house was completely quiet. Yoinks scoob!

I had my sword out, but coming across the realization that such a big sword in such a little house would be a useful as a white elephant. I had completely ran out of bullets as well. I hadn't checked upstairs but I still deemed it safe to go yelling about. Jinkies!

Okay I'll stop.

"Celine! Chihiro!" I yelled out. To recap, Celine is my adopted daughter and Chihiro is her babysitter. There was no reply. I felt hesitant to look for them. I knew I might not be happy with what I'd see. This sword was really riling me up with its uselessness. The Yuuki family sword! I remembered my family had an antique katana hanging up in a corridor. It was a family heirloom. I maneuverer around each room careful, eyeing every nook and cranny to make sure nothing was waiting for me. The sword was still hanging up in a wooden frame. I opened the case the back and revealed a beautiful red leather sheath. I pulled out the red hilt and found that the blade was coated in dust, but a quick wipe with a dishcloth and it looked good as new. Unfortunately, the piece of trash was blunt. Completely unusable. The tip was mildly sharp, but I doubt it could've even poke someone's eyeball out.

I creeped through the house, katana ready for a jab. I turned around the short corner, I would now enter the kitchen. My mind seemed to be playing tricks on me, I saw shadows. Shadows of friends I once new.

I swallowed hard and jumped around the corner and-

"Oh, hey Rito, what's that sword for?"

It was…Lala. My friend, the alien princess. She was dressed casually, long hair tied into a ponytail.

"Oh…nothing, I…I don't know why I even…"

I noticed the kitchen was its usually messy self. Leave a bunch of kids alone to a house for themselves and it was only obvious that dishes would pile up until someone finally got sick of the mess and would clean it up… Another girl walked into the room, it was Nana, wrapped up in a towel, still clinging to her thin body from the shower.

"…up"

 _Hmm, what was that?_ A sound echoed around the room.

"Hey Lala, where is-?" Nana said, she turned to see me staring, "What are you gawking at, you dog?"

" _Wake…"_

"Well?" Nana said. I still stood in the corner, sword in hand, I should be reacting, but instead I'm still.

" _Wake up…_ "

Every girl I knew was suddenly in the kitchen. Haruna, Rin, Aya, Ren, Risa, Mea – all of them were here in this room. Blood in their eyes.

 _"Wake up, Rito!"_

Wait…these girls…they…

" _WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!_ "

…are dead.

They are all dead.

A stream of heat burns my forehead. Cold blood trickles down my eyes.

"Gah!" I breathe out, and collapse to the floor. I gaze up to the kitchen. It's empty. No one is here. Just me. The dishes are all scattered over the benches and the floor, most cracked. The kitchen is wrecked up. When I rub my forehead I find my dirty fingers smeared in blood.

I must've gone through the same thing as Yui. Dazing into a dream. A hallucination. To break myself out of it, I whacked my head with the flat end of the sword.

I lavished my cut with some Band-Aids I found in the medicine box under the kitchen sink. Inside the fridge were a jug of water and some cans of Red Tick Beer. Fuck it. Against my better judgement I skulled down a can, I felt like I really needed one. Because I wasn't a huge pussy, the effects didn't hit me as hard as I thought it would.

I tossed the family katana on the kitchen island and searched the room for any supples. I gathered the sharpest knives and any tools I thought might come in handy. I found some masking tape, spare AAA, AA and D batteries. A couple of flashlights. My phone charger and…my phone. I had left it here when I went to school that fateful day. My heart skipped a beat. I opened the cheap Nokia phone and found several missed calls and messages.

"Oh my god" I spoke out loud.

One was from my sister, Mikan, several from mum and dad and the last one…from Nana.

Nana. She is dead now. I still hadn't fully registered that in my head yet. Too many worries had consumed me recently to even acknowledge some of my friends passing's. No. Not passings. Murders.

I started with Nana. I breathed in deeply, exhaled, and then I pressed 'PLAY'.

There were the sounds of screaming in the background, explosions, and other sounds I couldn't make out. "Rito!" it was Nana's trembling, frightened voice, "Rito! Where are you-…Why aren't you picking up? Please Rito just let me know you're safe [INAUDIBLE] –what to say…If I don't see you…I- Oh god no…Just remember me and Momo always love you…and Mikian and Celine and everyone else and…oh god, I don't know whats going on! I'm sorry I was a jerk to you sometimes and I-"

The message cut out. The message bank cut off her final words. My knees quivered and I collapsed into a chair. I wasn't crying but glad I was sitting down. My world span for a moment before returning to normal.

"Okay…" I said, and gulped, "Next Message"

This was from my dad, there were the sounds of those zombies near him. "Rito! You're not answering your phone! Please for gods sake just answer! Listen, when you get this message, take Mikian and Celine with you to the army. People online said they have a shelter of some sorts...

 _[by now the zombies roars came closer. The sound of wood was breaking, perhaps this was door?]_

and, hey, I love you all, tell that to your mum too. Don't come looking for me, these…things. They'll…I guess they'll kill me. Don't come to the office because…yeah. I'm going to die. I love you Rito…Goodbye" Beep. Beep. Beep.

My hand grasped my mouth. I dropped the phone onto the island. Dad…was dead. He was a mangaka artist who usually slept at his office. His office was in the heart of the city. Hence why he wasn't home. If he was here…maybe…maybe he could've had a fighting chance. He might possibly be a…one of…them now.

My hands shook as I gripped a glass of water and brought the warm liquid to my mouth.

My friends, my family. They died. And those who could speak, the ones who could give one last message…they're last words were not of hate or regret. But of love. The love I didn't appreciate until it was too late. It dropped me into an abyss of depression, a pit of anger. I couldn't help but scream as I cried.

I cried again and again until the feelings were all out. Then I noticed the last message on my phone. I tightened my grip on the phone and clicked on Mikian's message. I begged to god to let my sister be safe.

"Big Bro! Please, please, please call me back when you get this. I heard your school was attacked! You know my number. My school's been evacuated. The army's shown up! Please just call me back to let you know your safe…I spoke to dad and…just call me back"

I found myself nodding along. I did what she said and called her back.

 _No answer._

"Fuck!" I screamed. I threw a plate across the room. It obliterated into a thousand pieces and dropped a portrait of a sad clown to the floor. Fuck that clown. I didn't care.

I clicked on the last message. From mum. The message was completely inaudible. People screaming. Sirens going off, gunfire, explosions. Then the sound of something cataclysmic overtook the phone call and it cut off.

I took my chances and called her back. The phone rang for a solid minute.

Then…

"Bonjour?" a feminine voice piped up.

I didn't know how to react. This was definitely my mother's voice. She began to speak in French.

"…m-mum?" I said

Silence.

"R-Rito…Oh my god!" she replied, "Rito! Wait! Change to video call!"

"Yeah!" I switched the call to video. There was my mum. Her eyes were bright even though the circles around them were grey. She wiped her teary eyes and cracked a smile so large I don't think I had ever seen before. Her hair lack its artificially dyed flair but it was nothing too unfashionable. That was true to her nature, even in the most dire of situations she had to look stylish. After all, that was the way of a fashion designer.

"Oh Rito. I'm so glad" she barely could speak without crying. I realised I was crying too.

"What happened to you?" I said

She explained that she was visiting a small village in France for her job. But Paris, along with large scales of Eastern and Northen Europe, were decimated by meteorites. She was in one of the justly titled 'Lucky Zones' – small miles of land left untouched by the larger meteorites or the thereafter infections. She called my phone during what the French called "La Fin" a.k.a. 'The End'. This was when she was escaping the growing chaos. The end of the phone call had a small meteorite blowing up in the sky before impact. The army was quick to combat the zombie hordes. She mentioned something about a strange organization called PUDA and she was now in one of their quarantine centres. I had to break the bad news. I had no idea what happened to Mikian or Celine. But I knew what happened to the others.

I had no idea how long we talked for, it felt like hours but was probably minutes. I told her about the Million Man Horde approaching Saipan and she told me to hurry up and get back to army. She also used a variety of colourful expletives that I never thought I would hear her say, let alone call me for engaging in such a dangerous task. I decided to not reflect on being forced to kill the zombies, or the other survivors, but somehow I think she had an idea of what I've had to do.

"I love you, Rito" she said softly

"I love you too, mum" I whimpered

She promised that she would either come back to Japan or bring me to Europe. Whichever would be more safe. I made a small joke about France having better wine and I felt that eased the mood a bit. We said our goodbyes and hang up.

I checked out the basement door. It was locked, and this time, properly boarded up. I knocked on the door. There was no answer. Even after saying my name. This meant I had two dead bodies in there…or two undead bodies.

Like a kid procrastinating from writing his assignment, I decide that I wanted to go upstairs instead of deal with the basement. There were no signs of damage upstairs. I entered Lala, Momo and Nana's shared room. The room was messy, just like how they left it. On their desk was a small white cube. It emitted a soft blue glow around its edges. It looked all clean and futuristic like it fell out of Steve Job's ass. This was Lala's 'Recordy-cordy-kun'. An alien tape recorder. On the top was a sticky note that read, 'LALA DEVILUKE – TO RITO'.

After everything that happened today - the phone calls, the fight at Yui's place, the fight at the base, waking up with Yui, hell the turmoil that came about last night with that fucking explosion – all of that stress pent up within me was starting to burst. So it was at that point that I decided Lala's message, even though it would be her final, could wait. In my mind I was already telling myself, 'she's dead, the message can wait'. It was disgusting behaviour, I know, but every man has his breaking point and I simply didn't care anymore. As I had cleared out the rooms upstairs, all I wanted to know now what was in the basement. I didn't even care if I found Celine dead or alive, I just needed to know the answer.

But what I really wanted now was a rest, and put all that stress behind me. I just wanted a beer or a smoke, I didn't normally do even of those things, but I wanted something to relieve me of this stress.

Music blasted through the house. I jumped in shock and whipped my head towards the door. Out the door and down the stairs and into the lounge room, a vinyl player had turned on. It was one of the few English speaking songs I knew the words to.

"it's a fine day  
people open windows  
they leave their houses  
just for a short while  
they walk by the grass  
and they look at the grass  
and they look at the sky

it's going to be a fine night tonight  
it's going to be a fine day tomorrow"

'It's a fine day' by Miss Jane. My dad played it whenever he worked at home before he opened up his studio downtown. It was a simple song, happy and calm. But the sudden appearance of the strange sounds gave off a whole new eerie tone. Goose-bumps formed on my arms, my hands were clammy and began to shake.

"Oh for gods sake" I moaned, "not this again!"

I readied the family sword (even though I knew it would do nothing), and stepped forwards. My sleeve got caught on something. It was the knob to Lala's closet. The closet opened up as I shook my sleeve away. On all shelves were various trinkets and gadgets that belonged to Lala. Maybe they'd might come in handy?

My eyes flashed to all corners of my vision as I took each step downstairs with a slow, careful pace. There in my living room, was Chihiro. She had her back turned away from me. Her twin tails were bloodied. Actually her whole form was, the blood blended into her red dress.

"Ch-Chihiro?" I asked, it came out like a whisper.

"It looks like your safe, Rito. Thank goodness" she replied

I paused. "Chihiro why aren't you turning around?" I asked

Chihiro giggled and turned around. I prepared to see something ghastly. But her face was clean, toned in make-up even. "You good?" she asked

"…yeah. I guess so." I replied, "Where's Celine?"

She glanced to the side in melancholically, "She's…in the basement Rito"

"Wh-" I began, but she cut me off

"I just feel…so…restricted. By this clothing-"

"Emi. What did you do to Celine?" My heart was racing, my speech was becoming frantic.

Chihiro danced around the question by ignoring it. The blood on her dress and her hands became more predominate. Her speech began to slowly divulge into a rant, "You see Rito, I was wondering how long it would take you to get back. I mean, it was fine for the first week, there was enough food for two people. Enough furniture to block the doors. But then a week came by. You and Mikian and Lala and Nana and Momo's phones were all buzzing and hollering and hootin' but would never shut up, right? I did the good thing, stuck em' up on the charger, just waitin' for you guys to come home. But you guys didn't-"

I was ready to draw my sword, "Chihiro…If you did something to Celine, I swear to god I will-"

"-Well after a week I had nothing left, so I locked Celine up in the basement…or is that down…I don't know" she laughs, more screeches, actually. Like a harpy.

"Get to the fucking point Chihiro, I will murder you if you hurt Celine!" I scream, I whip out the sword and point it at her. She blinks. Gives no reaction. My threats are empty to her.

She continues, "Then one day I met a dog. He was a good boy. But then he scratched up his paws. Then he got angry at me. Then he bit me. He wasn't a very good boy to be honest. Now…I just feel…I feel"

She kicked off her shoes. Though I was confused, I didn't dare lose my composure. In one sweep, she pulled off her dress and stripped completely naked. Her body was slender and pale. She was definitely attractive. Okay, now I lost my composure. That is, until she started screaming, "Gah! Not good enough, not good enough. Aaaaagggh!"

She dug her nails deep into her skin and pulled. She ripped off chunks of her skin!

She was ripping herself to pieces!

Bile bubbled in my stomach and came up. I puked in my mouth. I was terrified on the outside, but inside my head I moaned, _Oh for god sake, I can't catch a break, can't I?_

I straightened the sword, shifted my stance – I remembered what I learned in kendo class – I leapt forwards. Chihiro's body exploded when I got close. Organs became tentacles. Ribs became teeth. He skin darkened to a soy bean black colour. A shit-stain black.

The abomination grabbed me and lifted me into its 'mouth'. I struggled but couldn't find my footing. The sword dropped to her feet. I grasped onto anything I could. I got a hold of the ribs. She tried to munch me through. With all my strength I pushed. And pushed I did – until I broke and warped the monster's body apart. I fell to the floor as the abomination howled.

"Fuck this!" I bolted to the kitchen. There was the back door and-

Chihiro was there. She looked completely fine now. She still had her clothes on.

"…What?" I whispered

She just laughed, fat blood spewing from her gurgling throat. In her hand she held a thick carving knife. I didn't give her a chance to act. I ran in the other direction. She wasn't at the record player anymore, there was just bloody remains and my sword. I picked up the sword and found her face – a centimetre away from mine – grinning. She was on the roof! She grabbed me by the head and tossed me into the record player as if I were a ragdoll.

Smashing through the glass cabinet, crimson obscurers my vision. I moaned in response.

" _Ah ah ah ah Stayin' Alive Stayin' Alive_ " the record player sang.

Chihiro flipped back to the floor. I grabbed her ankle and pull it forwards. I snapped her bones and she crumpled to the floor screaming. Mercilessly, I grasped her thigh in one hand, and strangled her with the other. I position myself to my TV.

"Welcome to Prime Time, Bitch!" I screamed and torpedoed her into the flat screen monitor.

I bolted to the front door. The knob shook in my hands, someone's reflection shown through the frosted glass. I shot a look back at the TV. Chihiro was gone! As I leapt to the closest thing I saw – the stairs, the entire door exploded in wood and glass. It was as if a cannon struck it let alone a small framed woman. I bolt upstairs and into Lala's room. As soon as I turned around, Chihiro was already behind me, smiling through toothless gums. She lunged forward and took me by the shoulders – dirty nails digging into my skin. I grabbed her hands and rolled forward. Kicking her torso, she was propelled straight into Lala's cabinet. The white cupboard shines and squeals with the sounds of gadgets setting off.

"Ka-Roooo!" Something animalistic boomed from inside the cupboard.

Some sort of monstrous boar broke out and threw Chihiro across the room. She broke the dry wall and her body hung limp off the ground. No doubt this creature was an alien. I narrowly dodged the alien's five horns. The beast smashed into the dry wall on the other side of the room. Fell limp right next to Chihiro. It was rather comical. It could only let out grunts of rage.

I realised what just happened. Momo's animal teleporter device was just set off. The white metalitic donut shaped box was a prototype Lala made and gave to her sister for her birthday last year.

As the two monsters were squirming out of their respective holes. I pulled out random oddly shaped devices from the broken cupboard. With an inflated ego boost, I pulled out a device that looked like a rocket launcher. The boar glared at me, snorted, exhuming steam from its orifices. It was so angry steam was literally coming out of its ears. It charged. I aimed the gun at it, I made a silent prayer to god and pressed the trigger. For a moment, nothing happened. No buzz, no laser beams, nothing. I looked at the device to see if it still works. Meanwhile, the boar had stopped in its tracks. With a twitch of its eye, it collapsed and roared in agony. Smoke puffed out of every nostril, its ears and tear duct in its body. Smoke seeped through its skin pours! When the cloud dissipated all that was left of the alien was the lifeless corpse of the beast. Its entire body had been pulled inside out. Guts and all. I turned to Chihiro. She was gone.

Fuck!

A hum came from the bathroom. I found the woman was ready to ascend into a green portal she had set up in the shower. The device was Lala's Warp-Warp-Teleport-kun device. A machine that travels into anywhere in the universe. On the other side I could see the vacuum of space, and a gigantic metal object passing by in the far distance. The sight was amazing. I would have loved to enter that UFO. But then I remembered that Chihiro wants to enter that UFO. She'll want to infect everyone on that ship, then infect the universe!

"Don't...You…Dare"

She grinned and hopped in.

She didn't wait for me to act. I couldn't chase her. With no ideas left, I threw the family sword. It glided through the air, whizzing past her head. The sword jammed itself into the rotors in the back of the Warp-warp machine. The mechanism cut off and Chihiro was left on Earth.

Actually, that's half-correct.

Half her body was left splattered all over the bathroom stall. Like a vertical Black Dahlia. The other half had set its course for outer space and was now completely missing. The family sword was shattered into a ton of metal pieces. Though this was no longer my friend, I still felt like I had to pay her some respect. I made a half-hearted promise to burn her to ashes if I found the gas for it. But even still, the truth was depressing. I'd need the gas more myself.

Rain began to sprinkle down and the darkening clouds slowly crawled over the red evening sun. Great. Dealing with a horde is one problem, but I haven't dealt with them in the rain before. There's so little I know about these creatures, who knows what they could manage with this weather.

I knew I was taking way too long. Yui would be getting worried about me and the Million Man Horde could be only mere minutes away. Time was of the essence and certainly was not on my side. I took out my phone before realising I no longer had her number. Damn. Once upon a time I did have it, but after a few sketchy mishaps with Lala's devices and her sisters messing with my phone I decided it would be best to delete her number. I'm just glad she's forgiven me for all of that.

I gathered whatever resources I found from the garage. A hammer, nails, a few metres of rope, roman candles, matches, a flash light, highly flammable lawnmower fuel, weed killer and some random blunt objects like a baseball bat and golf clubs. I tried to take it all but realised that, unlike games like GTA, I can't carry a hundred objects at once. I roped around the baseball bat and the Gerry Can full of lawnmower fuel and a few random necessities. I used the hammer to pick at the nails and bust down the door. The basement was completely dark inside. Only the sound of taps dripping.

"Celine?" I called out.

No answer. I lit a candle, I decided they would be more of a burden to carry around than running out of batteries for a flash light.

"Celine? It's daddy here. Come on out sweetie"

In one hand was the candle, the other, a baseball bat. Just in case. Even if Celine was…was one of them. I still would kill her. Her death would be out of love, to prevent infecting others. Yeah. That's what I kept telling myself.

"Celine, I'm here…to rescue you"

Realising my getup, leather clothing, like something out of Mad Max, dressed in shades of dark blood and dirt, accompanied by a candle – wax dripping down my glove, and a Louisville Slugger Baseball Bat - how creepy I must've looked! It would be a better idea to just drop the bat. I ventured deeper into the basement. The candle flames licked at my fingers. The wax gently scorching down on my gloves. It looked like white lava, soft and precious, yet fiery and destructive. That was the least of my worries, there were so many boxes and shelves and junk around here. Plus being in the dark, I knew it would be hard to find my girl if she was scared to come out.

The light softly illuminated the room, it gave off a better range than a flashlight. If something was waiting to pounce on me, it would have a hard time trying to hide from this light. Alas, a small framed figure was whole up in a corner.

It was my Celine, as soon as she saw the flame, she turned away in fear. I could only hear her whimper. I crouched to one knee and whispered softly, "Celine. Its daddy. I'm here now".

She looked at me with big, red, teary eyes. The candle appeared to hurt her eyes so I strayed it away from her face. Although, I could see she had a pillow from the lounge with her and her teddy.

"Pa…pa" her words were prolonged by her lingering breath.

She only could cry. Her whole body was filthy - hair messy – clothes soiled. The flower that protrude from her head looked a shade rotten. I begged to any higher being to let my Celine be okay. She turned her head away at the sight of the candle, it was stuck in the dark cell for long enough to have her eyes adjusted to the darkness. Her eyes, though had tired dark circles underneath, were still that beautiful blue eyes. I scooped her up. I embraced her tightly. A warm hug from her dad. She returned the hug, she's never squeezed me so tight. This embrace had a darker cause though. If she was one of the monsters, pressing her close to my leather jacket would prevent her from biting me. I had to make sure she wasn't a healthy carrier.

"I'm sorry kiddo, this is for your own good" I muttered

I took out a knife and gave her a small nick on her leg. She cried in pain. I held her even tighter.

 _Just thirty seconds_ my mind kept racing. I looked at my watch. A whole minute passed and her crying died down.

"C-Celine" my voice quivered.

 _Oh no…Oh god please no._

She was quiet.

My whole body quivered in fear.

"Daddy, it hurts." her quiet voice cried

I collapsed to the ground, I felt like my very essence just died. She cried out again.

"I'm sorry baby, I'll explain everything when we get out of here and back to safety" I replied

I laid her down and pulled a medical bandage out of my back pocket. I ripped off a small piece with my teeth and wrapped it around her leg. I feared the incision may had pierced her too deeply. I only wanted to cut the skin, not cause a laceration into her muscle. For now, in the heat of the moment, I could not tell. To detect a healthy carrier, the body needed to be 'shocked' for the virus to change the person into a zombie.

Tears swelled up as I noticed how poor of shape she was, her feet were bare and black and the stink of an abused dog lingered around her – my daughter was half dead. No child deserved such horrible treatment. She looked like she may have starved as well. Actually, scratch that, with Chihiro gone, there's no doubt she starved. I did not know how long she had been left here. She had cans of food she clearly could not open since she was a toddler. She also had packets of biscuits and now-spoiled food from the fridge around her. That's what she'd been living off this past two weeks. As my nerves calmed, I could breathe in deeply, but this made me close to spewing from seeing this disgusting array. I decided I'd take her outside where I could examine her further - and get some fresh air.

"Come on dear, let's go. You're safe now." I reassured her.

I wasn't sure if she was listening. She just wept softly into my jacket. Footsteps entered the room. My eyes darted towards the stairs. There stood a black figure.

I blinked. It was gone.

I muttered, "Lets get the hell outta here"

I readjusted the candle to my other hand, its light dimming from when I dropped on the floor, swallowed up by wax. The light was shown over empty shelves were cans of food used to be, a leaking drain pipe and a cup (maybe Celine was using that to drink out of?). In another corner was a pile of…

 _That's disgusting._

It was a pile of shit. Jesus Christ. My poor baby Celine had to do this? Fucking hell. Just…fuck. I couldn't fucking take this stress anymore! Fuck this house, fuck this town and fuck the apocalypse. Screw you guys. I'm going home…oh wait. Never mind, Screw this home, I'm leaving…to go! The candle waved its light on the stairs. A rotten corpse greeted me with bad breath and a wicked smile. It stood an inch from my face. It was so disfigured that I couldn't even tell its gender.

"Haaaa" it moaned, its breath was a sticky hot wind.

"Oh fuck!" I screamed and dropped to the floor, Celine was still holding onto my jacket.

The Roman candle seared my fingers. I yelled, dropping it once more and fell to the ground, fizzling out. The light from outside was the only thing I could see, and even that was dark. I saw a shadow lunge towards me. I rolled over and shoved my daughter out to the side. I could only hear her yell, and land with a thud. The zombie must've fell to the ground too, its growls came from underneath me. I had two options, try to find my flashlight, and risk an immediate attack, or fight in the dark and still risk an immediate attack. My hands dart to the ground and I found the bundle of fleshy pulps that were the zombie. I found its head and body. Toppling onto its chest, I reached for my phone, its light shining below. I had a fear that I had just landed on my daughter like an idiot. No I was correct, I had landed on the demon. It buckled down and bounced. It attempts to throw me off were futile. I squashed its body, my ankles elapsed its biceps. Luckily, zombies, or at least this one, were not great fighters. They were rabid animals. They had strength in numbers. It was a miracle I could survive for this long. But now, in these two weeks I was no longer a child, I was now a man, I was a soldier, a hero, a murderer, a mercy killer, a friend, a pacifist, and a coward. I had become all of these things in one way or another. But now, the guilt of killing a long-time friend and babysitter has swelled up my senses and made me numb - seeing my daughter tortured like this has destroyed my perception of mercy - and being forced to kill the parents of the one friend that still cares for me has given me a new status.

Behold! Below me is the mindless animal that feeds. Above, I holla - I am the human that destroys. I am God. I grasp this faux-human's head with my fingers – nerves pounding.

I scream an unearthly chant, "I am the conductor of the choir of death! Witness me! Sing! I will make you sing! Sing!"

I grabbed the cunt's head, picked it up and slammed it on the concrete ground. Again! Again! The zombie sang in its moans.

"Sing! Sing!" I demanded

"Aaaaaggghhh!" My zombie sang.

"Sing!"

I kept on ramming its head into the pavement. Its head caved in. Brains rolled out. An indoor pool of blood was installed in the basement. My poor friend could not sing anymore. I desired to help him, even if he couldn't, his body could still make noise!

I punched its face - head bouncing. Its face squished and sploshed and made funny faces. I kept on screaming with the zombie's final moans. I punched it again and again. I punched it once more and my knuckles cracked on the concrete. Then I sang in relief! I decided that was enough. I soon returned to reality. My daughter cried in terror. I breathed in deeply and looked at my fists, in the cell phone light I could see I was drenched in blood. The blood that dripped over the phone has gave the light a hellish red tinge.

I was no longer a child, I was a monster.

My daughter was still crying. Then my eyes widened. The Million Man Horde had arrived. I shoved the extinguished candle and phone back into my pocket. I picked up Celine, she was too weak to reject me. I ran up the stairs. Outside, already a mob of zombies had arrived. The Million Man Horde was already here. And they got in my house because I forgot to close the door. I forgot to lock the door. I forgot to lock the fucking door and zombies are in my house. They stood in the entrance and more lurked throughout the house. I grabbed my gun off the ground next to the door. I was temporarily hidden by the darkness. I unloaded my last three bullets into one single zombie. The first shot missed and the second got him in the shoulder, the third finally killed him.

"God…" I moaned

I slammed the door tight and locked it. That lock would do nothing as the demons would just break the whole thing down soon. I ran downstairs and found the light switch. The room buzzed on, Celine cried out as her eyes were blasted with light. The door was being bashed on multiple monsters. I collapsed into an old wicker chair, Celine on my lap. In the light, she could see me, doused in blood and gore. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she fainted. Her head gently resting on my stomach.

After a moment of silence, I couldn't help but laugh. I just needed to go inside, raid the house, and collect my daughter. But how many fights have I been in just today? How many people have tried to kill me today? I couldn't comprehend the answer, nor could I have cared. All that was certain was…

This was how I was going to die.

 **A/N: Wow what a chapter! What'll happen next? Also, the song "It's a Fine Day" was also popularised by the infamous 'haunted Kleenex curse advertisement'. It was played alongside actress Keiko Matsuzaka who was playing around with Kleenex tissues with a baby Oni demon. It was a super creepy ad, and a poor attempt at associating 'calamity' or 'peace' with their product. Google it, its pretty creepy. Unpleasant dreams!**

 ** _\- The following comments were originally to be placed at the beginning of this chapter. -_**

 **A/N: Because of how long it took to write this chapter, the following author's notes are progressively outdated.**

 **Happy Halloween! Sadly, I was dealing with my last slog of uni assignments before I finished my degree. Also dedicated to Harambe. Rest in bananas, sweet prince. I'll remember you when I eat my Gorilla Munch Cereal and whenever I feel like whipping it' out.**

 **I've been reading through other ToLoveRu fanfics, I'm proud to say that I deviate from the rest of the crowd. I possibly hold the record for Toloveru fanfic with the most swearing and the the highest body count. Also the first writer to have Yui Kotegawa use the "Cunt" as a catchphrase. Truly a high point in my life. Oh, and also the first Zombie Toloveru fic. I think theres another one but it's in Spanish so I can't read it.** **L**

 **I can't believe this monster project has consumed four years of my life (writing the first book before I even came to Uni, and planning it out back in high school!). Now I'm about to graduate. I wonder how long it'll be till books three and four are completed?**


	8. CH 07: Kill the Night Part 4

**Chapter Seven: Kill the Night: Part IV: The Million Man Horde**

 **A/N: Merry Christmas you filthy animals!**

 **RIP Careless Whisper, Princess Leia, Princess Leia's mum, and the Rev. M.A.S.H.**

 **Also RIP 2016 you piece of shit year, stop killing everyone you prick. Also, Jesus Christ I have to keep editing these stupid Authors Notes just to include 'In Memoriam' notes. This is depressing as hell.**

Space. The black infinity. Suns beyond starlight. Starlight beyond suns. Suns beyond the void.

This very galaxy we live in, is alone home to trillions of intelligent lifeforms. And in the darkest voids of space – a cadaver lay afloat. Green beams. Green beams elapsed the body into motion. A vortex. A vortex of light swallowed the cadaver into a giant metal machine. Metal Machine. This metal machine was the Star Dragon. The Star Dragon was a spaceship, once belonging to the Universal Conglomerate – a league of planets now long fallen, its resources now scavenged by pirates.

"Major! We're picking up movement from the oncoming input" the alien spoke from a long flapped mouth. The alien observed the cadaver through the heat sensor telescreen. A furry orange monster jumped up to the giant hyper-screens, there was a HUD displayed information about the object approaching them. Even in the frozen tundra that is space, the being still emitted heat, just barely.

"Well, what are you waiting for, bring it in!" the Major said in his foreign tongue.

The green vortex sucked the cadaver in like a vacuum cleaner. The body landed into the loading bay, surrounded by a company of curious patrons. The Major approached the being and poked it with his golden cane. The body was frozen, but the inside of the bay had been equipped with gravity locks, and heaters.

A doctor began to speak, "Sir, this creature is dead. Perhaps there were errors with the machine... Wait…"

The body was slowly starting to reanimate. This was the body of Chihiro. Half her body was missing and yet the human still could move. Her neck, with the ice melting away, allowed blood to pump and spill on the floor. This gruesome sight led many crew members to back away in disgust. The Major and his doctors leaned forward. The woman's only remaining eyelid ripped open. A bloodshot iris stared at the captain.

The Major stammered "W-What the-"

Chihiro sparked an inhuman grin and spat blood into the Major's mouth…

My mind was slowly returning to me. The sky was growing dim and rain was starting to pour down. My consciousness was still in a wreck. For the past half hour I was fine but now my mind is playing tricks on me. My mind focused back to my reality. I was lying down on a cold concrete building, looking down through the scope of sniper.

"Shit!" I grunt, _what time is it? How long had I been day dreaming for?_ My watch said that half an hour has passed. _Didn't Rito say to come for him if he wasn't back in like fifteen minutes or something?_

"Oh fuck!" I scream, my voice echoes into the dead city.

Above the city were the hills that've protected us from floods, from ancient wars and even Donald Trump (A storm prevented his plane from coming to our airport so he went to the next one over). But these old rolling hills can't protect Saipan from the horror I was seeing now. I didn't even need to look through the sniper to make out what they were. Thousands of them, all slowly making their way down the hills. No it wasn't the hippies my friends, it was the walking undead. Zombies. The Million Man Horde. Without a bike, it'd take me at least half an hour to get to Yuuki's house. Before all of…this happened, my father was teaching me how to drive. I needed a pair of wheels, and fast.

As I scaled the fire exit, I would pull the fire exit door to each floor. Eventually I realised the futility in this, so to open the door on the next floor down, I stood and the top of the staircase and readied my sniper.

"Okay Yui Baby, you can do this. This isn't the dumbest thing you've done all week" I tried to pump myself up.

The sniper shot off the lock and hinges in one precise shot. The noise was deafening, and the building shook. I kicked in the door until the whole thing was off its hinges so I could finally enter. The lights were still on for many offices. No one was inside. If any zombies was around, they would've heard the commotion and come right to it. Steadily, but still pacing myself, I bolted inside. All the offices were locked. Through the glass walls of one office, called 'Ito and Co: Uzumaki Agency', was a collection of cubicles. On one desk was someone's bag. There was no promise I would find any car keys but it was still worth a shot. I grabbed a large pot plant and heavied the heavy thing through the glass wall. It shattered easily. A siren went off. Now my heart was pounding. Any zombies would surely find me soon. I found the source of the sirens. It came from three sound speakers. I shot them out and continued my search in the office. Only the red light remained, this was okay.

In the cubical was a poster of Rosey the Riveter saying 'We Can Do It!' and… 70s porn star Ron Jeremy? I didn't bother to think about this weirdness. The contents of the bag were chucked out onto the desk. I noticed that my shirt and jacket were practically destroyed. Pant's weren't in the best condition either. A shirt had been in this person's bag and it looked big enough to fit me. Gazing from side to side to make sure no one was here, I quickly got changed. Resting underneath the shirt was a large key and a hat. Might as well get some sun protection for later. Lifting up the car keys, the name read on the keychain read – 'Cock Goblin'.

 _Oh dear, what have I got myself into now?_

My gun was now down to its final bullets. The bathroom was empty. I assumed the residents of this whole entire building had evacuated as soon as the infection hit. The clothing I had picked up was…weird. Yet, oddly appealing. This shirt was a large print of American celebrity Oprah Winfrey. It was just her smiling face, stretched out over the whole shirt. The hat was a perfect fit. A black snapback with large bold writing that read 'TOP NEP'.

 _What's a Nep? Why was it so 'Top'? Was this one of those 'anime' things?_

This whole new look gave off the impression that I was a hipster from Shimokitazawa. Maybe the owner bought them from Harajuku? That seems like the place you'd buy these threads from. Whoever was the original owner of these beautifully weird clothing could've made for a fascinating conversation.

Then I wondered what my life would be like if it were an anime? Maybe it'd be called, 'Highschool of the no-longer-living-but-still-active-and-violently-dangerous' or To Love…Carnage. Maybe something like that.

Nah that'd be stupid.

Before the elevator was a red emergency fire axe case. An axe would definitely help me deter the monsters in close combat. I've lost almost everything useful to me, all of my equipment was all left on my bike. That was back at the apartments. I raised my heavy Doc Martin combat boots with all and kicked the glass sheet in with all my spirit. But because I'm an idiot, I couldn't help but get my foot stuck in the case and I fell over, one foot stuck in the wall. I'm glad no one else was around, otherwise I would've felt like a bigger schmuck that I already was.

The elevator had power, but the rickety cage made every inch lower feel like diving deeper into hell. The doors had glass window and each floor told a story. Floors that were in the darkness, I felt, that these stories had ended. On other floors, I swore could see people wandering around, but as I came close to making out the figures, my room with a view would leave the floor and let a tale go unfinished. Were these survivors not yet contacted? Were these monsters? Were these apparitions? I'd never know. But with each floor closer to the carpark I grew more nervous, my grip tightening on the fire axe. This wasn't a descent to a carpark, no, this was an elevator to hell!

As I stood in the half-light, no music playing, a memory lingered on my mind. I came back to a holiday I had in some ocean-side town I had forgot the name of. It must've been years ago, away from heavily civilisation and the air pollution, the stars shined brighter than I had ever seen. My family had a campfire on the beach, behind us was a steep cliff and a lighthouse. Its beams shooting over the horizon. However, this truly beautiful sight was ruined by my older brother's ghost story.

"They said that the 13th floor was forbidden, so much so that the elevator's button going to that floor was burned out! But behold, the doors started to creak open. All the man saw was darkness. Then _TEKE! TEKE!_ A sound kept crawling, crawling ever so closer to him. The man's only light was in his elevator, and that started to flash on and off. On and off." My brother told the story with incredible panache.

He waved with fingers around a torchlight. By now I was cowering in fear. My parents had gone elsewhere and my brother and I sat with some older kids. All I was trying to do is not to cry.

"TEKE! TEKE! The sound came even closer. A figure appeared in the darkness, it didn't seem to move. It just…appeared" For dramatic effect he turned off the light. He almost looked like the monster I was imagining.

"Then what happened?" A boy leaned in with fearful curiosity.

In his shadowy figure, Yuu's lips stretched into a twisted smile. It was obviously a normal grin, but in the darkness, it appeared as if his whole body had warped.

"The things that happen in the darkness are the things that cannot be explained with logical nor human rationale."

Still to this day I had no idea what that was supposed to mean. He probably didn't know either.

The boy laughed nervously, "But seriously, what happened?"

Yuu grinned, "Y'know the light in the elevator – it turned off"

"A-a-and?"

My brother laughed, "When it came back on, the man saw a-"

Ding!

I let out a frightened cry as I snapped back to reality, the elevator bell gave me a fright. But what was even worse than the mechanical sound, the entire carpark was encased in darkness. The only light came from the elevator.

 _Oh come on!_ I readied my axe in one hand, car keys in the other. The key's lit up on one end, the car lit up on the other. The car was somewhere in the middle of the long room. Against the floor, a sound emerged. _TEKE! TEKE!_

Perspiration dripped down my forehead from the hot elevator and stinking room. The smell of corpses were pungent. Tears formed in my eyes. I finally knew what happened to the people in this building. The thing about this new world I lived in was not of the amount of death I've seen, but how people die. You only have to do something small and stupid to meet your end, and this was the dumbest thing I've probably ever done!

I flicked on my torch light. I could only see one of them, a woman, missing the lower half of her body - and her eyes – and her skin – and – and – and. This was a corpse, not a victim of the disease but of the carnivorous nature the infected suffer. This woman was partially eaten, and still survived long enough to become a monster. Her fingernails scratched over the concrete floor. In one hand I held the torch, the other was the car keys, my thumb pressing down hard on the unlock button.

There was a feminist who made a powerful statement on empowering women like myself, even in the darkest of times. She was a Vietnam War survivor and had a powerful mantra that always kept my spirits going. Except now I've forgotten it!

The groans become more predominate and intense. I screamed and bolted out of the elevator, torches shown zombies in between cars, some wedge forcefully, others roaming aimlessly. The car light flashed on repeatedly. The icy, grotesque smell of rotting trash lingered at my neck. I didn't even bother swinging at it – I leapt forward into a diving roll. The half-eaten zombie tried to crawl towards me, instead, I stepped on her head. Kicked off, and landed into a zombies grip. My torched dropped to the ground. It shattered and the only light I had left was gone. The elevator door shut behind me. The room had elapsed into complete darkness. It was as if heaven's gate was shutting behind me.

I screamed and swung my axe wildly. The axe connected with a sickening sound. Of course I couldn't see, I just continued to press down hard on the car keys. The car was right beside me now! The torch was gone, but at least I had the car. I wanted to use my sniper, but in the darkness I couldn't even see how to unbuckle it from behind me back.

Another moan came from the side of the car. The car light flicked on again. In the low orange haze were eight or nine of them. All at the sides of this car. How did they manage to do that? I had no idea, but I already knew now not to underestimate these creatures. I prepared for one of the most dangerous fights I've ever been in. No light, no perception of the dark. Close quarters, a horde of them. And here I am, only an axe and the physical capabilities of an eighteen year old teenage girl.

I pressed the unlocked door keys one more time. The zombies ran forwards. I jumped in the air, pulling my legs into my torso - then kicked outwards. My boots made contact. They fell back onto one another – three stooges style. My hands ran along the car until I found the door handle. The car lit up with a white led light, like looking into another heaven. No one inside, thankfully. A pitter-patter of hands rubbed against the metal sides and the glass. The door locked successfully and I let out a big sigh.

 _Hey Yui, remember that horror movie cliché with the killer in the back seat-_

I whipped my hatchet around the back of the van. No one was there, just purple shag carpeting. My face hit the steering wheel in relief. The engine turned on without a hitch. The car automatically began to play 'Sweet Soul Revue' by Pizzicato Five. Very jazzy. The car was a manual. I knew how to drive stick, but not as well as an automatic. It wasn't great but it'd do. The car headlights showed maybe twenty of these demons, all staring at me. All smiling. In turn, I gave a sinister grin. I shifted the car into first gear and slowly drove off toward the exit gate. Bodies that were left on the ground suffered under the weight of a huge van. Crunches and snaps were audible, even though the sounds of the 90's Japanese pop group. The gate slowly opened automatically. I flicked on my sun glasses expecting an evening sun, but instead I was met with rain. Great. A storm too. Any zombie that was holding onto the car before was flushed away with a foot tall flood. With the gate open, I realised I didn't have to drive responsibly, so I floored on the speed pedal and shot out of the building like a jaguar hunting prey.

Rain fell on this deserted city. It felt as if the city itself were alive, and now cried at its own apocalyptic destruction. Thunderous booms ripped apart the dark sky. Military fighter jets soared through the sky, coming in hundreds. They flew over the mountains. On the mountains were figures, at first it looked like the forest themselves were moving, but like Shakespeare's Macbeth, it was not the trees but zombies, rotten green like the flora.

The Million Man Horde had entered the city. Exiting the car, I noticed the city had a quiet peacefulness about it. Not like the sun after a storm, but the eye of a hurricane.

This was for the first time I noticed the car's design. Coated in black, pink and purple colours, it displayed a lime green graphic font. It read, it only the most superfluous and 70's porno funk of fonts, "The Cock Goblin'".

I stared at the design, accommodating the words was the image of a goblin with a seedy boner (Also, delighting himself in said boner). At first I felt like proclaiming 'how shameless!'…but this was way too weird for me.

"What the fuck?"

Shaking my head, and heading back inside, I sped off. The music boomed loudly as the car turned on, I wasn't sure how to turn it off, the knobs didn't do anything. The song now playing was 'Girls on Film' by Duran Duran. For once I actually listened to the lyrics. The song, though very catchy, still had pretty sketchy lyrics. Its toe-tappingly s _hameless!_

As I turned up to Rito's house, I could only let out a whisper, "Oh no".

There were twenty of them, all entering his house. I needed to get their attention somehow. I pressed the car horn. The Mexican hat dance song shot out. I just sat there confused but still ready for a fight. A weird emotion.

The zombies turned around and came towards me. I revved the engines. They lingered over close…close enough for me to ram them! The process was simple enough, bring the car closer to the open front door – get a few zombies out, and run em' over. It took only two minutes until they learned my behaviour. Still, a pile of violent mush laid strewn over Rito's front yard. Twenty bodies soaked into the lawn.

"Rito!" I screamed, "Rito! It's me Yui! Are you in there?"

Laughter came from within the room. _Who's laughing?_ The laughter continued even as I bashed the door down. Something whizzed past my head. I jumped back in fright.

"Wh-whose there? Get away! You'll never…" Rito was down the basement, in a chair, holding a small child, his gun aiming at me. He must've tried to shoot me!

Moving back into the hallway and out of his range, I knew I had to calm him down.

"Rito! It's just me, you're safe now!" I yelled, "Just…Just put down the gun. I've got a car, we can go back to base…Is that your child? Is she hurt?"

Rito didn't reply for a moment or two, then slowly, as if the gears in his brain were restarting like a century old locomotive, he slid the gun across the basement floor. The skittering sounds of metallic against concrete, finally hitting exposed wood, echoed around the room. He stayed in his chair as I descended the steps. His gun was now out of ammo. He ran his dirty hands through his equally filthy hair and began to sob. I found myself almost stalking towards him. I picked up the sleeping little girl, this must be Celine. Rito took my hands and buried his face into my stomach. I patted him on the head, took him by the hand and rushed out of the house. I strapped Celine into the backseat. Rito just stood outside the car. Pointing. He was pointing down the road.

"Rito what are…you…doing"

Suddenly there were thousands of them. Crawling through on the roads, creeping on the gutters, scaling roofs. Thousands of them. Thousands of zombies all charging toward us. All hungry.

"Fuck!" I screamed

We hauled our asses into the car. The keys were bashed into the ignition. It wasn't starting.

"What's wrong?" Rito screamed

"It's not working!" I cried

"Oh fuck! Oh fuck! Oh fuck!" He continued to cry.

The horde was only metres away from us now. We were going to get swarmed!

 _Remember Yui! Start the car, put your foot over the third pedal. Right. Then slowly push the speed pedal and release the third pedal slowly. Okay?_

The car kicked into first.

"Yes! Let get the hell outta here!" Rito cheered

Rito's daughter groaned. She was just waking up. The Cock Goblin' sped off hard and fast. I felt like Vin Diesel in Fast and the Furious. Our cheering stopped. Rito and his daughter looked at the roof. Handprints…One of the bastards was climbing on the car. A body jumped onto front windscreen. We all screamed.

"What do we do?" I said

Rito leaned forward and flicked the windshield wipers on. The zombie groaned as the wipers lightly hit him. Rito pulled the lever and water spurted out. The monster made a sort of scream as it slipped off the car and fell onto the hard road.

We sighed deeply.

"Cool car you got here" Rito commented "And nice threads, whose is it?"

I thought for a moment, then replied; "The coolest cat in the universe"

We drove in silence, turning around at roads littered with abandoned cars, or abandoned forts. Everything was abandoned. We turned down a street, once the outskirts of the central business district, now just an empty wasteland. Only a few blocks to our east would be the high school. No doubt the friends I lost would have just been left there. It sickened me, and I tried to repress the memories of the day into the back recesses of my mind. I wish I could go back in time, save them. But it's the sad truth that it's never going to happen. They're gone and they won't come back. Ever.

"Say, Yui" Rito asked, "Do you hear a rumbling sound?"

Come to mention it, I did.

The sound erupted into total chaos, and the ground shook like an earthquake. Out of the Hakai Building a horde smashed through the glass doors and windows. Thousands of them again!

I veered the car to the left. The horde already took over the street. I didn't think about my actions, I just acted. The car bumped up the concrete pavement of the Tonzura Plaza. Rito swore, his daughter screamed and I roared like a warrior as we smashed through the glass window, driving past looted store.

"Yui! Yui watch out!" Rito screamed in a high falsetto.

We smashed off a balcony. Time seemed to slow as we fell off the second floor to the ground. We landed hard but the competition prize Ferrari below us broke our fall. I could almost shed a tear to a waste of a good Ferrari. The van gentle rolled off the car and was ready to continue. The zombies tailed us behind, falling off the balcony to their doom. In seconds piles of broken corpses had formed, and those that survived slipped and climbed off one another. They charge at us as if the fall were nothing. I floored down on the pedal, trying not to stall the car again. We dodged trolleys and benches.

"Papa" the little girl cried into her daddy's chest.

"Don't worry Celine, we'll be safe. Miss Kotegawa is a great driver" he assured her in a tight hug.

 _Yeah…_ I sighed deeply. _I wish I could believe that myself_. I was just trying to remember what these mall hallways led to.

I muttered to myself, "Okay, down this hallway would meet a fork and with a hard right leads to… Uniqlo, that area…no, that's not the right direction. I must go left…past that smoothie place"

"Yui! Corner!" Rito screamed

"Oh fuck!" I slammed the car to the left, sharply avoiding a corner. As I sped down the next hallway, bohemian plastic tables and modern AstroTurf cube seats obliterated into a thousand pieces of pipe tubing and fake grass, scattering over the car, chipping away at the windshield.

"Christ Yui! Can you actually drive this fucking car?"

 _I thought you said Miss Kotegawa was a great driver?_

"Shut the fuck up!" I replied "I bet you can't drive any better you cunt! Now let me…Oh fuck!"

The horde didn't just have power in numbers, but strength as well. They ripped through shops, destroying even the hardest of concrete walls. The made a shortcut and smashed through the left and right hand sides of the buildings. Above us were the horde, falling off balconies and railings. Some up ten floors high. Many fell to the deaths, other fell onto the car and latched on. They were like spiders, thousands of them coming out from every orifice, just to kill the three of us.

"Floor it Yui! Floor it for gods…oh Christ" Rito's crying voice softened to a desperate whisper.

I bashed my foot on the pedal, the gear was already at its highest, the engine was growing ever hotter, and any more stress on the motor would cause this car to bust!

 _It's...it's the exit, not the flat road exit…it leads down to Deguchi way...Which is on a steep hill. Wasn't that one of the streets that was torn up from a huge crack going down the middle of the road…Yeah, from the meteors…Then we're coming to the…stairs. Oh shit!_

"Rito, Celine. Hold on. This…this will be rocky." I spoke sternly.

"Rocky…Rocky? Yui what do you mean _Rocky?"_

"I mean that we're going to smash out glass doors and fly down a large flight of stairs. Either that or face what's behind us"

Rito looked behind himself, I glanced in the mirror - the horde was approaching hard and fast, like families of lions chasing prey. I tightened my seatbelt and gripped the steering wheel. The exit was in close sight. Zombies still suicide dived at the car. The tires crunched hard over the corpses and would almost lose its grip.

"Come on baby, you can do this" I grunted to myself

The rain poured heavily outside. The street might as well be a river. The headlights could only illuminate us now. The car was now positioned directly for the door. If it could even take the height of the van I would be surprised. But fuck it. Now we either live or die horribly. I began to roar, Celine shook and yelled in anger, Rito screamed like a pussy.

The car connected to the glass door. It shatters, the car's windshield is totally cracked. We shot off the staircase - soaring in the air. For a moment it's a beautiful weightlessness. The very next moment – complete horror. The g-force was not controlled. My hair flew to the roof. Rito held Celine as she was lifted off her chair. Outside the zombies break through the building's exit like an explosion of the dead. We passed the entire road, and kept on flying in the air. We're above the ground by two stories. We're…we're gonna collide with the next building!

Okay, I screamed like a pussy as well.

We blasted through the glass window of the Kuso-Doujinshi building. The van smashed through a drywall, a glass screen door and soon enough we close to the outside. The van skirted along a cobblestone walkway, the car was shaking like it was going to fall apart right there. I kicked down on the breaks and the van swung to the side and to a complete stop. We sat hyperventilating. The coast appeared to be clear.

"Okay" Rito voice was an exasperated whisper, "Did anyone mess their pants?"

Celine and I confessed to the crime in unison, "Yes"

"Okay, so I'm not alone on that one…Cool...Can we go to the camp now"

I smiled, "Yes. Lets."

Only with a miracle and my chaotic Asian-lady driving did we make it out alive. Unfortunately the Cock Goblin' had since lost all its lustre- _I'm_ _sorry I can't even finish that sentence._

The van was fucked. Drenched in blood and gore – now looking like churned red slime. Beaten beyond repair. The spluttering mess of an engine left us a kilometre away from the camp. As I turned in my seat to deliver the news, I saw Celine crying into her dad's chest. Rito, eyes tearful – face solemn, returned with the type of hug only a father could give. At first I felt the joy that a daughter and father were reunited thanks to my help. But then I realised they were crying because of the ungodly series of hand-and-foot movements I call 'driving'. Nonetheless, after this fiasco, we were happy to walk back to the camp.

There we met a worried witless Tearju, and Mikado, whose rage could be felt in the air like an open oven. Mikado saved her anger for other means. She stated that the army would evacuate her first. Since she was a doctor, she held priority over anyone else and had arrive at the quarantine centre safely. The helicopter was reserved for the ill, crippled and their doctors. We followed her to the chopper pad.

"So if you're leaving first, what's going to happen to us? When are we leaving?" Rito asked

No one answered. No one answered because no one knew.

The guards blocked us off from Mikado, "Miss Mikado! Can I ask you a favour?" he called out to her. She came back. The two looked at Celine, who was holding her dad's hand. Rito gave Celine to our former school nurse. The little girl was too feeble to reject her father's decision. Celine had enough minor injuries to set any healthy carrier off, we were all rest assured that the little girl was uninfected. But she was still young and injured, enough to be taken in with Mikado and the crippled patients. Rito gave her a tight hug.

Celine looked at me, "Mauuu" she exclaimed in a thin tenor.

"She wants to hug you" Rito said to me, giving me a nudge with his elbow.

I nodded and gave her a soft squeeze. She smiled weakly and held onto Mikado. Celine held her hands to the chopper window as they descending in the air. She was now crying, only faking the appearance she was happy to leave. Mikado let out a few tears too. I felt like trash, she's given us a lot of strife these past weeks, but only out of her care for care. The chopper ascended into the air and disappeared over the horizon.

"She's gone huh" Rito muttered, "She was with me for what, ten minutes? And like that…gone."

He was remorseful, clearly tired, he needed a hug. He looked at me surprised. I backed away. _Jeez, what going through my head, haha, gosh I'm shame-_

"Thanks Yui" he replied with a sleepy smile. I returned the smile with my own hazy beam. We gazed into each other's eyes for a while. But like a villain from a horror movie Yami appeared behind me. Naturally, as any strong leading female would do…I shat myself and screamed.

"Sorry" Yami said in a particularly unconvincing manner. She spoke nonchalantly, with a Ben Stein-esque, Rei Ayanami-like tone of voice.

 _Thanks a lot, mood-breaker._

She was dressed in a tight black suit, some sort of weird alien uniform. Over it, was a purple fur coat, around her neck were gold chain necklaces. Her head was dressed in a gold tiara. he was holding a large flat screen TV in one arm. In her other hand, she held a DVD copies of Cool Runnings and Snow Dogs.

"Yami…where did you get all that stuff from? Where did you go?"

She pondered for a moment, "Shopping"

I suspected that asking anymore questions would lead to less answers with her, so I dropped it. Tearju walked over to us, she wasn't smiling.

"So…now what?" I asked her

Tearju shook her head, "You missed it. Pardon my crude language but…everything's fucked. Our situation is more fucked than Mariah Carey's performance at the 2016/17 New York, New Year's Eve Show with Dick Clark"

Rito and I stared at each other, he flashed me one of those ' _did she just say that?'_ kind of looks. _Sure, that reference is going to be remembered in a year._ I thought sarcastically.

The former teacher continued, "The captain had a conference to everyone here, and it was broadcasted on the radios too. All the soldiers and the Civilian Army have to stay and fight"

Our faces went pale. We thought we had already escaped the horde. We thought we wouldn't have to deal with it again. But now we have to fight it full force?

"B-but that's suicide!" Rito cried.

"I know" Tearju turned away, "Talk to the captain or one of the subordinates…" judging by her voice, I could tell she had already been defeated.

She didn't want to be here either. I think we were all regretting the decision to not just hide away with the regular civilians…or even hold onto Mikado's helicopter. Her attitude was akin to a dying candle, once bright and full of passion, now fizzing out. Her face told us a story, the dark circles under her eyes showed the stress that waned on her tensions. Her eyes were puffy, clearly, she had been crying. Her hands were dirty, her manicured nails were broken. She must've been in that fight this morning, I'm not sure what she did in that chaos after we left, but I'm sure it must've been rough.

I placed my hand on her shoulder, "Don't worry Miss Tearju, we'll be alright", I flashed a reassuring grin.

Her eyes flashed towards me before darting away again, they began to well, "It's bad enough dealing with another war, but seeing you kids forced into this pandemic – I just…it's not fair. War isn't made for children…I wouldn't be shocked if you didn't understand what I was talking about…" she trailed off.

I paused, come to think of it, Rito and I joined the Civ Army to get back at the enemy. We were told we would fight for our city and the Japanese livelihood. But all we've seemed to do is cause more chaos for the city. Maybe even kill more humans than zombies. I couldn't reply to Tearju's remark. Meanwhile, Rito had drifted towards Yami, who was standing at the top of a hill, surveying the city. The clouds broke away for a brief time and the even sun shined in. The beautiful light glazed over our faces.

"Hey…what did you mean, _another war?_ " I asked

She gave me a remorseful look, "The very reason I came to earth was to avoid the constant wars in space. Everyday some galaxy seemed to anger another solar system. Earth is practically the pits of the universe. That's why a lot of immigrants escape here. Immigrants and criminals that is."

After a moment of thought, I said; "So…Earth is like the wild west of space?"

A small smile cracked up, a tiny chuckle, she wiped her tears away with her wrists, "You're right, I guess I'm kind of like a cowboy here"

The siren kicked back up again, this time, its screeching cry droned into my aching head even faster than normal. It had changed its tune this time, it wasn't a bell or alarm, it was an orchestral tune, like a battle's rallying cry.

"I've never heard that music before. What does it mean?" I asked

Tearju didn't answer my question. Instead, she turned around and opened two large camo boxes. One was packed with ammo, sniper rounds. The other…

"Holy shit!" I exclaimed

The teacher picked up a huge object; black metallic chambers, gold links of thick bullets, one giant handle at the front, one heavy trigger at the back. She grinned, "This is something we don't have in the final frontier"

In her hands, she held a weapon that looked like it could end all wars. A mini gun. The name was of course a joke, this thing was huge!

"I recognize that!" Rito sprung up, "It's an 'EX-17 Heligun'!"

"That's right" the Nurse said, "You know what that siren means, Yui Kotegawa?"

I shook my head. Her eyes grew dark with bloodlust, her grin widened. She barely looked human, but having her on our side just made my heart pump with excitement. And fear.

She laughed.

"It means it's time to kick some serious zombie ass!"

Lock and Load Mother Fucker, Its War.


	9. CH 08: Kill the Night Part 5

CHAPTER EIGHT: KILL THE NIGHT PART V: THE STORM

 **A/N: So this chapter obviously took a while to write and edit. The next chapters will be much shorter but hopefully I can churn them out quicker. I've already placed in new perspectives dictated by labels. This will continue in future chapters. I'll be editing the story to give the earlier chapters the same POV Title treatment to provide you clarity on who we're following.**

 **Since I started and finished this chapter, I've graduated uni, dealt with trying find a job, several bouts of writers block and the fact Toloveru ended, which really help dampen my creative flow. Hopefully the rest of the story comes out quicker. Enjoy!**

 ** _In the vastness of Space: The Fate of the Star Dragon_**

The Star Dragon had been unresponsive to any spaceship passing by. To any monstrous fleet ship of the Imperial Devilukian Empire, this was not uncommon. Against their code, they wouldn't respond to other ships. The Empire had a big bloated ego, they considered themselves too important to talk to the commonfolk. They talk to you, you don't talk to them. Simple as that.

But one with knowledge of pirates could easily tell that this ship, from its less-than-stella appearance, this was clearly a stolen ship. For a pirate ship to be unresponsive was unusual. They would talk to anyone who'd answer. Sometimes to threaten them, sometimes casual banter. But their mere existence was dangerous, and if a real Imperial ship found them, naturally there would be hell to pay. So it was even more concerning that this unresponsive ship had entered the intergalactic wormhole highway. Where millions of civilians travelled in Imperial territory.

The machine clashed into other ships, smaller fleets were destroyed in seconds. Police tried to take it down, but the sheer size of the ship made it impossible. The Imperials would be contacted but it was futile. For an army to attain the necessary weapons to demolish the vehicle it would take days or weeks to reach the highway. The wormhole had a natural current that flowed like a river, it made travel easy for commuters. But the bigger the size of the ship, the faster it went. The Star Dragon should not be travelling on this highway. It was going faster than any ship should. Even worse, the end of the line was coming up – Vehmitte Plaza. A tourist trap Star-city. A Star-city was like a man made planet – like a Death Star, but instead of laser cannons, tanks and Space Nazi's, the Vehmitte Plaza had boutique fashion outlets, discounted tech stores and those god awful frozen yogurt places where they weigh your fro-yo and it always turns out to be like over $10, the fucking rip offs. Man, yogurt sucks.

The traffic controllers tried desperately to connect with the ship, but to no avail. This monster of a giant metal block was aiming directly towards its main port. The security tried to shoot it down, but this made matters worse. As a man-made planet, it had no atmosphere, the parts of the ship that were shot off would not burn up. There was no atmosphere to destroy it. The port controllers used their stronger gravitational pull machines to reduce its speed, but with the speed it shot out at now, it only prevented it from shooting right through it. This decision only made things worse. This only meant the horrors inside it were closer to being released. The citizens were evacuated, the rich and the important political figures escaped first, but they were few and far between. Five hundred million citizens would be exposed to this disease, and it was caused by one undead corpse entering a pirate ship.

The Star Dragon crashed into the port. The Star Dragon has a height of 350 hundred kilometres – width of over 1000 kilometres. When put against the port, which was less than half its size – only accommodating regularly 'civilian' class vehicles, it was clear to say that it was decimated. The gravity controllers, in their confusion and chaos, turned the ship towards the city instead of sending the machine off the face of the disc-shaped planet. The Star Dragon crashed through the Plaza, destroying high-rises, breaking roads – sewers – subsurface mechanical stations. The pieces that were shot off before only added spread to the damage. Giant towers connecting to the Star-city destroyed entire neighbourhoods, town's even its own small cities.

Millions died instantly.

When the collision had finished, and the rubble had cleared and the civilians and tourists thought they avoided the worst – the Star Dragon pod bay doors opened…

 ** _Perspective - Rito Yuuki: The Fighter's Mantra._**

Saipan city was isolated by the living dead. Any survivors kept within his concrete jungle surely would have been found by the horde and killed. From the hillside, the zombie's drone's echoed like a war cry. The air was tense for everyone who was forced to stay behind as they all knew that the horde were coming for them. The atmosphere was so thick that it could be cut with a knife. Many of us were starting to consider going AWOL and trying to escape. It was starting to seem more like a better idea as each minute passed.

To fully set up the camp for an attack this size would take days. We had less than an hour.

"Rito!" Tearju called out

"Y-yes!" I replied and ran over to my former high school teacher.

"Follow what the other soldiers are doing. Grab any junk you can find and help them build reinforcements. Yui and I will go to the watch towers for further instruction. Okay?" she commanded.

"Understood" said Yami

I gave a nod. Yui looked at me concerned, we were probably both hoping to meet back again at some point tonight. I still didn't really understand this plan, the major wasn't around but another lieutenant told us that we would be fighting with the army tonight. The battle would supposedly last for as long as the civilians have finished evacuating and gotten a half-hour head start. When Yui and I came back to camp, I tried to check on Momo, but it was too late. As she was mentally deficient from her traumatization, she was transported with the rest of the ill. Before Yui and I departed, we got each other's phone numbers. On our way to the man-made barrier, I carried two desk chairs, Yami, with her alien strength, carried five desks and ten chairs – all by using her super powered alien hair.

"Hey Yami" I said anxiously. I was often too nervous to talk to her, let alone I face her wrath. She didn't respond vocally, but from years that I knew her, I could tell that she was listening to me. "I was wondering, you look…calm. Are you not scared about this fight?"

She took a moment before responding, "I am…concerned. These creatures appear to be mindless, but it is obvious that they are a hive mind. In small and isolated numbers, they poses little threat, but with enough of the sick, they can orchestrate successful battle strategies and defeat their opponent."

"So, I think the army said it was a million of them-" I began but she interjected

"Then sorry Yuuki-san, but you are likely to die" she replied

I tried to force a nervous laugh, "I don't know about that"

"I do not see the humour in the situation. As a total, the number of soldiers – that is, your planet's 'trained to be effective in combat' soldiers are few against your civilian brigade. Even then, the survivors would bring the population of this fortress to over…five hundred I believe. Five hundred warriors against one million violent mind slaves. I believe that you, as a high school senior, should be able to do the math. We, or at least, most of us, will not survive this night"

"Why…why can you say that so easily?"

"I am only here to protect my mother, when the fortress is lost, I will take her and escape to the quarantine centre."

"And leave me to my…to my doom?"

She cocked her head, "Would you like to live through tonight?"

"Y-yes! Please!"

She paused, "I…perhaps, could help you. In the fight and evacuation of this village of course."

 _Is it really that simple to get her on my side?_ I thought, "and we can help Yui and Mikado too, right?"

"I cannot make any promises. But if she is near your vicinity, I can help her escape too"

"Thank you." She nodded her head in silence, I gave her a grin, she looked away unamused.

"Yami, have you ever fought anything like the zombies before?"

By now we had reached the barrier, it was actually a wall placed around the main city side, and stacked several metres high. We casually chucked the junk on the piles and ran back. She didn't look at me, naturally, it was difficult to call any emotion on her. But I suspected she was deep in thought, searching her memories like a filing case. My question, on face value, asked if she's ever fought a zombie before, but going deeper into the question, what I really was asking was how to kill enough of these things and make it matter.

She finally answered, "I have fought...beings, seemingly devoid of life, or spirit or valour or emotion before. Many allies…think they are animals, they are there only to hunt. But even animals fight back in families. Never underestimate the power of a family, Yuuki Rito."

I stopped walking, my family…is dead. I don't mean Mikan and mum and dad. I mean Lala, and Nana, hell, Momo's practically dead! The alien girls weren't just friends, they had lived with me for so long they were my family.

"Hey Yami" I said, "What happens if we kill one of those family members"

"Then" she paused for a moment, "The family either flees, or they will hunt you to the ends of the galaxy. I assume your next question is, 'Which one will the zombies follow?' Your answer: I'm not even sure myself"

I knew she was only talking about the zombies, though intelligent, she can be one sided. But I was thinking of applying that motive to my own situation. Yeah. Those beasts killed my family. I made this my mantra for my upcoming fight: they kill my family. I kill theirs.

"What about your family?" I asked

"That's simple. My sister died. My mother is naturally distraught, I am not sure what happened to Nemesis, my master. Someday I will find out, but for now. I will avenge my sister, I will defend my allies, and when my enemy reaches me, I will end them. Yuuki, my master taught me a powerful lesson. Do not let your anger consume you, for your rage will leave you blind, and being blind makes you weak. Being weak will lead to your death. Think as you fight, use logic, lest you go angry, blind and meet your end."

I grinned, "I like that Yami, I will fight like you do. With my head, with logic and reasoning."

She nodded in respect, "Then my human friend, perhaps you'll survive this war"

I nod my head in return. By now we found ourselves on a series of scaling metal beams, a sort of make shift bridge, crawling over the dips in the hills. The army men would push us or even shove us out of the way. Like bugs. They had bigger problems on their mind and two teens would just be a nuisance – even if one of them is an extra-terrestrial assassin.

We climbed off the top layer of the bridge and onto the second layer, the sub floor, the supporting metal beams. We were only a metre off the ground. The two of us sat on the bare, half-metre platform. The rain created a small but undoubtedly coarse and slippery river underneath our boots. Yami breathed gently and deep and let the rain wash over her face. She rubbed her small hands through her blonde hair. It was times like this I forgot she was an alien, she looked human, like a normal, Caucasian girl.

By now the storm had subsided, the wind died down, all we had was the rain that never seemed to end. And yet, I didn't mind it, the sirens were far away from us. Its blaring, droning sound echoing in the wind – became part of the ambience. It was no more than the breeze of the cool wind, no less a disturbance the quiet chirp of a dove – which sat next to us, seemingly unassuming of the chaos the world has been ripped into.

"Hey Yami" I spoke, practically a whisper.

She didn't respond, she just sat there, cross legged, hands on her knees, face pointed towards the sky, eyes closed, she was in her own state of serenity, looking like she'd spout into a Buddhist chant at any moment. Whether she was listening to me or not, I'd still talk, as her questions like nothing mattered anymore.

"Yami…do you fear death?" I asked

Again, she didn't respond. Looking closer into her eyes, I realised she was crying. Tears came out, silently. She did not weep, she just let her tears roll down her cheeks, moving together with the tears of the sky. The white dove sat sheltered underneath the little awning of the stack of beams. It turn its head from side to side and cooed, as if it were surveying Yami to determine if she was a predator. She slowly open one palm, and the little dove walked onto it. She used her other hand to gently pat it.

"I…do not fear death…I fear…who I will lose next…Rito" she moved her lips slowly, her talk was like small breaths, "It may not seem like I care about anyone else…but I do, I find it hard to convey such emotions…but I do care about you…Yuuki Rito."

Yami slowly opened her eyes, those ruby reds gazing into my own. It was like her spirit was entering my body like a psychic pulse. Consuming me, the feeling was pleasant. It was welcoming.

She looked at me and spoke in a dreamlike tone, "I've…seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears…in the rain…Time to die."

The dove stretched its winds and ascended, flying gracefully into the clouds. Leaving us. Yami closed her eyes, her head dropped to her chest. She was…gone?

I crawled over and placed a hand over her neck so I could feel her heartbeat.

It was still beating. Was she sleeping?

Her head whipped forwards, eyes blazing at me in shock, "Yuuki what are you doing?"

"Aah!" I screamed and fell backwards into the river.

The waves and mud splashing over me.

"Are you okay?" she gasped, leaning over the platform.

I opened my eyes and frowned.

"…No, not really" I grunted and wiped mud from my face.

 **_LIVE FOOTAGE: Military Chopper "Ibis" #0045 Live Camera Feed._**

 _On the camera feed, the camera operator, Corp. Motoko Kusunagi, details the horror that the pilots can see as they observe the city. The camera picks up the footage of the infected 'Million Man Horde' circumnavigating through the city._

[Kusunagi] "This…Million Man horde…there is no possible way it's that amount. It appears as if its double…oh god"

 _She whispers inaudibly to the other soldiers, none of whom are not shown on camera. The camera slowly pans over the streets – where there is an increasing amount of infected humans and animals. Noticeably, a heard of zombified elephants, in various levels of decomposition, stroll aimlessly throughout Bordello Avenue. The talk amongst the soldiers grows louder and the helicopter suddenly gains height, flying over several high rises. We can see that the horde, which only hours before managed to penetrate the inner city central, has now developed into a 'sea' of zombies. It is clear that the millions of zombies have managed to climb on top of each other, presumably from being squeezed into the brick and concrete walls of the city. The horde grows so tall that they begin to swarm over entire buildings._

[Kusunagi] "This is worse than I think anyone could ever imagine"

 _The horde swallows up an entire ten story tall building by this point. They consume the structure effortlessly._

[Kusunagi] "May god help us all"

 **_Perspective – Yui Kotegawa_ : Heart to Heart.**

I ran with Mikado along the dirty tracks. Mud covered my boots, Oprah's face was dirty. I avoided the odd stares from people. Most people were concerned with their own quagmires. We reached guard tower six, it was placed in a similar set up to my normal guard post. Placed in front of it are two more guard posts. There were three burly looking soldiers. Mikado and the soldiers were dressed in white hazmat suits. On a table had several of the same uniforms.

"You'll need to get dressed Yui" Mikado commanded, "The uniform reflects light, and the pure white suit allows the army to know who's one of them"

"I can't get dressed with you all staring at me" I replied anxiously, eyes darting away from their hardened looks.

"They won't look, won't you boys?" she said, trying to lighten up the mood

For a moment there was silence, until the smaller solider, Private Ichi, spoke up, "No we won't…besides, she's a kid"

Perhaps it was ironic, Private Ichi looked younger than me.

"Hey! I'm seventeen, almost eighteen at that too!" I retorted

"We have more concerns at the moment, lil' lady" Private Ni replied, he spoke a thick country accent, possibly from Kansai or Kobe somewhere close to it.

"Ah" grunted Private San, clearly showing his foundation as the 'strong, silent type'.

The uniform had three layers; the first being a tight unisex cotton shirt, stockings and pants. A hard armour like padding that wrapped around my shoulders, waist and ankle – which I needed Mikado's assistance. The final item of clothing was the white hazmat suit, which looked more like a tracksuit. It came with a white helmet and neck guard. I noticed the soldiers each wore a red sash stitched into their uniform, Mikado told me that was how the army identifies their own soldiers against the civilian army. It soon dawned on me why the uniform was so white. I thought back to last night, where Rito and I were sent to the doctor's office. The gown I wore was white. Any bleeding would properly show on the gown. So when it all goes to hell and I can see that people who bleed out have a darker shade of red staining their pure white uniforms. Those who had blood spilled on them showed a paler shade of red.

"These uniforms are made with a chemical that will show us if you are bleeding. If you've been cut, you'll emit a purple spread, if you've got blood on you, it will show up a normal, red blood" Ichi explained

I gulped.

With my sniper rifle in hand, I got ready into the battle position – crouching onto one knee with my gun sticking out of the window. The others had snipers, except for Ni, who had binoculars used to direct the snipers in the sight of their enemy.

I looked to Mikado, she was wearing a headset, waiting for further commands. For the first time I noticed something crumpled in her hands. It was a photo of Oshizu – a student and her assistant. For time to time, Mikado would gaze onto the photo. It was herself and Oshizu pulling some silly face. Now, I felt terrible. Since the massacre there were some friends, fair-weathered or not, I barely gave the light of day to in my memory. I was only concerned with Rito and the others and their problems. People like Mikado swallow their sadness and churned it into hate. I never even mentioned the nurse's assistant since the incident.

There's a theory called the Hedgehog's dilemma. The hedgehog would want to huddle up with its mates to keep warm during the cold seasons, but its spikes prevented that. For anyone it came within close contact to would get hurt. I wondered if Mikado was like that. Could it be that all she wants is someone to treat her in kindness, yet cannot, for she will pay them back in hostility?

Maybe I could give her that kindness, even if I get a little hurt in the process.

"Hey, Nurse" I said in a soft tone, "Are you…okay?"

I walked up to her, she looked at me, perplexed. I had probably threw her completely off guard – this was even more clear as our eyes met, then followed down to the photo of Oshizu that was crumpled in her hand. Slowly I took her hand, not exactly sure what I was doing but I wanted to comfort her in some way. Her mouth, which was agape, closed, and she returned with a warm smile. She closed her fingers around my hand.

"You miss her too?" she said

I looked away, as horrible as it is to admit it, not exactly. I never really knew her. So, I couldn't feel as sorrow-some as I probably should've. I knew of the girl, but I was usually concerned with whatever hell the other students put me through I guess I never had time to meet the good ones. Oshizu was quiet, and never caused any trouble. Oshizu was one of the good ones. For the nurse's sake, I looked away shyly and nodded. She wrapped her arms around me into a tight hug.

To disperse this depressing atmosphere I've conjured, I should probably mention that I was at her chest height. So her breasts, who might I add – were some of the biggest I've seen in my life ( _and that's coming from me!)_ Ensnared and suffocated my face.

Ever seen the ending to the movie 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'? Yeah, it was like being suffocated by a big pillow by a giant American Indian man.

 _Oh who the hell l am I kidding, you're reading a To Love Ru fan fiction. I highly doubt you have good taste in art._

Mikado let go of me and tucked the photo into her pocket.

"We can grieve later, if you're worried about the fight or your friends, just do what I do. Just bottle up your emotions for now and let them go when its safe"

"That sounds…kinda unhealthy. Psychologically speaking"

She squinted at me, "Y'know whats unhealthy, psychologically speaking? Being here, about to go to war" She sighed and muttered _, "Serenity now, serenity now"._

I had no idea what that last thing was about, so I ignored it and continued, "Okay, Miss Mikado, I'll just…supress it, and…convert it to energy to fight!"

She smiled and nodded, "Please, call me Ryouko, I'm no longer a teacher or a doctor"

I paused, I wasn't expecting this. In japan, we're very protective of our names, so for me to call her Ryouko is what I would only call a close friend, removing any class system rank from the mix. We were now equals in her eyes. "Okay…Ryouko . Heh. You can call me Yui too"

"I always referred to you by your first name"

"Oh, well, officially now" I beamed

She smiled and nodded again.

"Well then, lets-!"

An earth shattering explosion threw us to the ground.

 _What the hell._

The soldiers got up and immediately started firing. Ahead of us was a tower of bright light. Like the sun. No. Sulfur! One of the guard towers in front of us exploded.

 _Had the zombies already start attacking? How come we didn't hear-_

The next tower blew up in an apocalyptic eruption of molten metal, charred wood and hellfire. All we could do was watch in horror as we knew our tower was next on the kill-list.

 ** _Perspective – Rito Yuuki_ : The First Kill**

It was all quiet on the western front. At least I think that's where we were located. After running around, being told to change into different clothing – a large white hazmat suit, with military grade armour underneath. Yami, naturally to her personality, refused to put on the suit. Her tight black outfit could transform with her body, unlike any other outfit.

Yami and I found ourselves in makeshift trenches, surrounded by soldiers and civilians. Next to every 2nd civilian was a solider, wearing the same uniform, save for a large red sash stitched onto their uniforms – whatever that meant. The army's strategy was to worry about the zombies but also take care of the Civs. Thus, with limited numbers of soldiers left, and more Civ's than soldiers, the army had to supervise two Civs to every one solider. The best thing any Civ could do is follow their supervisor's orders and don't get in their way. Even though I tried to occupy myself by staring down the scope of a rifle, the air was clearly intense, no one wanted to be here. The other soldiers sure took their bloody time evacuating the other survivors. On our way here, we witnessed a middle aged woman in a ferocious tantrum as she refused to leave her city – clearly driven mad with stress, only giving us more anxiety. They had three giant soldiers suppress her and hogtie her like a barnyard pig just to get her in one of the rescue vans.

The droning sirens suddenly stopped like a car – its noise squeaking like burning tires in the rain. A new song played – 'Rise of the Valkyries'. Its thunderous and famous opening was instantly recognizable. The soldier next to Yami and I informed us that the song meant the zombies were here. Far off in the distance, perhaps to my west, we could hear gunfire. Then, cheering. Loud optimism in only the most barbaric sense.

The first zombie of the night was killed. The first human of the night was killed.

It was impossible to see with the rain and the dark, but way in front of us were short sparks of fire. The rounds of ammo patter pattering on the ground. Then, off in the far distance. On the opposite side – where I then realised was where Yui and Mikado were located – the guard towers caught fire…

I could only let out a whispered cry "No…"

 **_Perspective – Yui Kotegawa_ : The Kill-list**

"What's going on?" Nurse Mik-I mean, Ryouko shouted.

Ichi explained in desperate, exasperated breathes, "The dead have already infiltrated the first and second towers. The soldiers have already detonated their posts"

"Aaaahh!" a green figure appeared at our gun post. Ryouko jumped forward and shot the bastard before he had a chance to rip away San's sniper.

The com radio erupted into sound, "Guard Tower 6, do you copy?"

Private Ni raced back, "Yes! We copy, over!"

"Status report! Over!"

"Guard towers 5 and 4 and dead, over"

"Stand your ground, we sending over help! over"

"Copy that, over"

"Fire! Everyone fire!"

We could hear footsteps on the roof.

San gave us commands, "Stay back from the roof, they won't break in. Take this hose and fire it the ground below"

We took a large fire hose from the wall and stuck it outside. It was so large the two of us barely could hold it. The water sprayed heavily on the ground, knocking zombies and humans off their feet. But something wasn't right about this water…it was a black tar colour.

"Okay, let's roll" Ni said to his other army buddies

"What is this? This isn't water?" Ryouko shouted

"You two, drop the hose, let it go and follow us-" Ichi said, he was now pouring gasoline over the floor.

"No, they'll be dead weight! … Actually…" Ni said, then…he pulled out a handgun!

Ryouko screamed as the nozzle pointed in her direction.

"No!" Ichi grabbed the handgun

He gun went off and our surroundings vibrated with the audio impact, like an earthquake. Ichi dropped to the floor. One bullet had struck him. One bullet to his head. I screamed along with the rest of the room. San whipped out his own Smith and Western handgun. Ni pointed his own gun towards San. Suddenly we had a Mexican stand-off, in a tower spilling oil in a sea of fire, surrounded by senseless death, in the midst of a zombie apocalypse!

"Ni! You bastard! How could you, he was our mate!" San cried

The tears running down his cheeks didn't let up from the gun still aimed at his comrade's chest.

"I don't know man, I don't know, it was just those two fucking civs man, the whole lot of them piss me off!"

"They didn't fuckin' do nothing man!"

"Not them, those other ungrateful shits. At least when we were in Mosul-"

His rant lost me. I looked towards Ryouko. Our eyes met. The gestures she conveyed was a single word: 'ESCAPE'.

Ni's crying was replaced with a icy glare, only incensed with his puffed up cheeks. He let out a breathe of chilling air, "Don't you dare think about running away now".

His breath, tingling my neck, stuck frostbite needles into my skin. San, who spoke in a tone hard to define. Suddenly calm and cool, yet all the more horrifying. Like Vishnu, becoming death, waiting for me to take his hand into the life after.

"You will not leave after seeing what happened"

They turned their guns towards me, I let out a cry. Shutting my eyes I quickly shielded myself from death.

Then a gurgling scream.

I opened my eyes, Ni, who still had his gun pointed towards me, clasped one hand over his gaping mouth. His eyes bulging with fright. San was the man who screamed, Ryouko, seeing an opportunity rise, took her chance to attack. She produced a thin scalpel and sliced open San's neck. Perhaps Ni was shocked that she would attack the man who, at one point, seemed like a protector. In a flash, she wrestling the gun away from San. Ni fired his gun. The surrounding glass shook and cracked with the impact of the blast. My head was pounding. San collapsed to the ground, grunting and crying. He was still alive!

Ryouko used the solider as a meat shield, his armour prevented bullets from exiting his body and hitting the nurse. In that moment, Ryouko Mikado did not look like any school nurse or a friendly alien. I believed what I saw was her true self. The inner refuge buried deep inside her. She threw up her hands and fired all six rounds of the soldier's gun into Ni's body. The man's body was diced into the wall behind him like a shoddy paint job. I choked and spewed over the front desk.

San was slumped against the other side of the tower in stifled breathes. He was covered in his own (and his teammates) blood. He glared at us and lit a cigarette. Silent. We stared at him. He tried to say something, perhaps some soliloquy, but with a cut throat, blood seemed out instead. The fire sizzled out in his cigarette.

Taking in short, panicked breathes, I tried to speak, "Okay. Lets g-"

Ryouko shot San in the head one last bullet. I feel to the floor with a yelp. San's head was in pieces.

"I didn't know he had smokes" Ryouko muttered to herself. She searched the three dead bodies and retrieved three daggers, some rounds of ammo and two packs of cigarettes. She lit on up. I only stared.

"Want one kid? Its good for you in times like this?" she asked casually, holding out a pack.

"I-I-I'm right" she replied

Ryouko didn't respond she just observed the surrounds, "This place is set to blow soon, we need to leave"

I was still on the floor, staring blankly. Her face scrunched in that unseen anger, "NOW!"

We bolted down the ladder and back towards the base, behind us was the screams of dying. The last guard tower exploded. Behind us was a growing field of fire, like a gateway to oblivion. I could feel timbers singing at my heels. We ran like bats out of hell, away from the fire and into the shadows.

 **_Perspective – Rito Yuuki_ : The Kill List**

The last guard tower had exploded into a ghastly sight. Three pillars of fire stood tall like three sisters, head bowing to the earth, arms up in prayer-

A hot lash whipped the back of my head.

"Yuuki! Snap out of it!" Yami screamed in my ear.

Snatching the gun off me, she stared down the scope and shot down a good few zombies. I wasn't sure how she could learn how to use a weapon like a rifle so quickly, perhaps it's a natural talent for an alien?

"B-but Yui and Miss-"

"Forget them! Worry about us!" she yelled

A voice came out of the loudspeakers, it was one of the higher ups giving us instructions. However, using military jargon, only the soldiers could really understand.

The solider next to me began to speak "The lieutenant just gave us an order kid, we call it the 'Brigand-Major' technique. It's a British strategy. The first line of soldiers will fire their rounds until they run out of ammo or until the lieutenant tells them to stop. Then the second line will do the same. The line before will reload their weapons. The third will continue after the second and onwards. Is that understandable?"

"So we wait till we're told to fire, and do it until we're told to stop, and we reload?"

"You got it, kid, awesome. You can be one of us someday" he laughed

Whether nervous or annoyed with the Civs army, the solider tried to look past it.

I nodded and waited. My eyes were darting between the flaming towers and the battlefield. Across the battlefield was the city. Skyscraper giants were crumbling like an Iraqi war zone from the dead and the air Force blasting them. They fell like Jenga blocks. Plumes of fire and concrete dust elapsed my city, my home, my former life into poisonous, chalked smoke. The life I had was gone for sure. That life, sometimes chaotic, often peaceful, would never return. At least I had some friends left. And for that, I was thankful for whatever deity that exists to bless me with such a rare gift.

I wondered what else could have gone? The convenience store I often visited, wasting money on bento boxes and crappy candy. The park where I jog down, often coming to sneakily 'bump' into Haruna – walking her dog. The school, where I suppose I spent most of my life the past few years. All possibly gone, just like Yami said before, like tears in the rain – like chalky smoke fading away.

The zombies now approached closer to the fort, giving everyone a heart attack. As each round of ammo fell to the ground and thousands upon thousands of bullets flew through the wind and dissected hundreds of thousands of bodies. We saw that the zombies fell in a crude line, like an invisible wall of death the horde ceased movement about one hundred feet from the fort. Here I witnessed the great destructive power of the army. Committing genocide against the once living, demolishing a centuries old city in a matter of moments. This was their power.

And I could only stare in horror at the site.

 **_Perspective – Yui Kotegawa_ : This is where I leave you.**

We ran on top of fallen tents, over fires and sizzling debris. We saw the army trying fruitlessly to supress the attack. The army base was virtually free from zombies. Save for a few. We executed them with a simple shot to the back of the head. We passed by two soldiers crawling out of a crashed van, a civilian, a rather large woman trying to attack them. She clearly wasn't a zombie as she kept swearing at them. Another solider, clearly fed up with her, took his pistol and ended her life from behind. Killed her in front of us. We let out a quick scream and ran the other way. We came across a small foot bridge, underneath was a concrete platform to sit or lie on and underneath was a storm water. Now a river, spurting violently out of the tunnel.

"Hey!" a voice called out and a whistling object passed out heads.

We turned, it was the officer who shot the woman. _What the hell?_

"You're not going to get away from me, you saw me kill her, now you have to die! Sorry friends! But you're time is up!"

Ryouko let out a low whisper, "Yui, come here!"

My school nurse was crouch on the concrete platform on the side of the little bridge. I followed suit. We held out our pistols, but the grip in my hand was weak. My nerves twitched and got the better of me. I could barely hold it in my hands.

Ryouko looked at me and put her warm hand on my head, "Don't worry, I'll solve this" she said and pushed my below the height of the bridge.

The man came closer. Searching for us. Ryouko had squatted into cover.

The man was above us. Rain poured down and we could hear his heavy breathing. In the midst of this chaos, a dove looked at me doe-eyed from underneath the bridge.

 _Don't move bird, please, don't move._

The bird shot out from the bridge in a flutter of white wings.

 _Damnit! You fucking gutter bird cunt!_

"Aha!" The man exclaimed

Ryouko screamed, jumped out from cover, pistol aiming at man and fired.

It missed.

He whipped his body out of the way and fired. His bullet hit the concrete, blasting out a chunk of chalky smoke and rocks. Ryouko jumped out of cover and the man leapt back to the other edge. The two fighters sent their weapons blazing. I could only cover my ears and scream. And as soon as the violence started, it ended just as abruptly. The gunman fell off the bridge and landed on the edge of the water, in the mud.

"You did it Ryouko!" I cheered, "You…"

I turned to her, her face was without any celebration. A gasping cry slipped out of my lips. Ryouko had been shot too. A blotch of red covered her uniform. Spreading above her right breast. Another had hit her in the shoulder. Another, I think ripped one of her ears apart. Her body went limp. I tried to jump forwards and grab her, but I couldn't reach her. She fell unconscious.

Her pale, lifeless body fell into the rapid river below.


End file.
